Sketchwaiting Stories

 

7/15/26 Social Security office

6/11/26 medical waiting room

The sketches I make while waiting for someone or something to happen are usually just ways to “kill time” (I’ve always thought that was an odd expression: Why would we want to kill the only resource we truly have in life?). Yet when I look back at them, I realize that almost all vividly remind me of the circumstances in which they were made, even if the subjects are “nothing” (which almost always defines a sketchwaiting sketch), and even if I haven’t written any notes. Or maybe I should say that the sketches evoke the feelings associated with the circumstances.

5/17/26 waterfront

8/6/26 Green Lake PCC

For example, although I didn’t note the temperature, I know that Aug. 6 (above) was a hot day. I didn’t want to turn on the oven to cook, so I went to PCC to get a pizza. I could tell that people were using the café area simply to enjoy the AC.

7/15/26 Social Security office

9/11/26 Federal Way light rail station

The yellow sketch on June 11 (top of post) was made in the waiting room of Greg’s orthopedist, who had examined a broken arm after a fall. He seemed to be declining in other ways, but the fracture was healing well, which gave me hope.

A month later on July 15, I was in the Social Security office with our marriage license, applying for widow’s benefits.

Every sketch tells a story, large and small.

9/14/26 Green Lake

9/16/26 South Lake Union

Magus Books Annex (and More Sketchwaiting)

2/19/26 Magus Books Annex, Wallingford

Having arrived for my appointment a few minutes early, I looked around for something to draw besides the waiting room chairs. A large window facing 45th Northeast showed a small storefront in a former house: Magus Books. At first, I was confused, because I knew Magus as the U-District bookstore, which has been selling used books since I was a UW student in the late ‘70s. The one I was looking at was the Magus annex, which had opened in the Wallingford neighborhood a few years ago. As so many indie bookstores are closing, it’s good to know that Magus is not only surviving; it’s thriving enough to open a second store.

The last time I had an appointment at this office, I was called immediately. Sometimes I enjoy the pressure and suspense, so I went ahead and started the sketch. An easy-peasy five minutes later, I was done, and I still had several minutes to wait before I was called.

The rest of the sketchwaiting shown in this post don’t have much in the way of stories attached to them. It’s entertaining for me to look back at them, though, because I can recall who or what I was waiting for, even if I didn’t note the occasion.

It’s also fun to see the passage of time through the colors of my daily-carry Uglybook sketch journals. I use each book from start to finish to maintain a continuous, daily chronology (the only sketchbook I use this way), and I always change to a different color when I fill one.   

11/23/25

12/5/25

12/12/25 outside SAM

12/15/25

12/29/25

1/18/26

1/21/26

1/25/26

2/10/26

Current Sketchbook Formats

 

Clockwise from upper left: A5-size Uglybook, A6-size Uglybook (frog sticker by Kate Buike), 3.5" x 5.5" Stillman & Birn Zeta, 5.5" square Hahnemuhle. (I'd better up my sticker game... those front sketchbooks look naked!)

While I’ve been talking about my portable sketch kit media, I haven’t said much lately about my current sketchbooks for urban sketching (shown here are only the ones I take on location; I have many more that I use at home).

For the past several years now, my only daily-carry sketchbook has been an A6-size Uglybook, which serves as my daily sketch journal and a catch-all for random people, not-so-random people, sketches from fitness walks, and sketchwaiting. I love the thin format with heavy-duty paper so much that I might be carrying it daily even if the paper were white – but the colored pages also scratch my itch for fun tonal sketches. I never leave home without it (even when I’m only running a quick errand and know I won’t have time or opportunity to sketch – just in case).

Sometimes I miss having a book with white paper as my daily-carry, but it’s not often enough to make me switch. Besides, I can’t seem to find a pocket-size sketchbook thin and lightweight enough for my slim bag.

The same sketchbooks opened. No sketches yet in the small Zeta.

When I take an auxiliary tote bag to sketch outings, I have many more sketchbook options. Ever since I started making on-location comics a couple of years ago, the larger, landscape-format Uglybooks have been my favorite. Unlike my daily-carry A6 size, which I use only one at a time, I keep several colors of the larger format in rotation.

When I know I want to use water-soluble materials, I take either an A5-size Hahnemühle (the same 100 percent cotton paper as the A6 size) or, more recently, a 5 ½-inch square Hahnemühle.

If I could find a white sketchbook with decent paper that is as
slim and lightweight as an Uglybook, I would consider it for my daily-carry.
Both the square Hahnemuhle and the small Zeta fit in my bag, but they're
too bulky to carry daily.

Just lately, after re-falling in love with Derwent Drawing pencils, I’ve occasionally grabbed a 5 ½-by-8 ½-inch Stillman & Birn Zeta sketchbook. I noticed, though, that I rarely make a sketch that large on location with dry colored pencils. Since my basic M.O. is to carry sketchbooks only as large and heavy as necessary, I started thinking about alternatives. Digging through my stash, I came upon a Zeta book in the 3 ½-by 5 ½-inch size, and in landscape format. I don’t recall what my intention was in buying it, since I don’t really care for landscape format unless I have a specific use for it, but I’m going to give it a try.

This is a good time to mention how much I’m enjoying the square-format Hahnemühle. For one thing, it’s a just-right in-between between an A5 and an A6. More than that, the versatile square is handy for both portrait and landscape compositions, and occasionally I sketch across the spread for vertical or horizontal panoramas. With all the benefits of a landscape-format book, it’s much easier to hold while standing.

No Difference

3/5/25 Neighbors Barbershop, Wedgwood

8/25/25 Green Lake

Whenever I make sketches that were made while waiting but have no other stories to tell about them, I file the scans in a folder labeled “sketchwaiting.” They are waiting for me to think of something new to say about sketchwaiting so that I can blog about them. I looked in the folder the other day and realized I had a sketch in there from March! I obviously hadn’t thought of anything new to say.

10/16/25 Whole Foods, Roosevelt neighborhood

10/19/25 Volunteer Park

Then it occurred to me that for a lifestyle sketcher like me, there’s not much difference between sketchwaiting and any other type of sketching. Sketches happen spontaneously, whether I’m walking, shopping, or waiting for a friend. No wonder I have nothing new to say.

11/11/25 Green Lake

Sketchwaiting is the embodiment of what Nishant Jain provocatively asks: What if every time we felt like pulling out our phone, we pulled out a sketchbook instead? What if, indeed.

11/15/25 Rosellini's Bakery, Ballard neighborhood

How to Keep a Sketch Journal

5/22/25 Some time to kill captured in my sketch journal

10/29/24 A special celebration captured from a selfie

It has been a year and a half since I restarted (yet again) a daily sketch journal habit – something I had tried to develop many times over the last decade. In hindsight, this process has been especially interesting to me because it parallels my overall process of drawing and learning to draw: Many starts and stops until finally it stuck (and has stuck for going on 14 years). Why is one attempt at making a creative habit finally successful after many faulty starts? From a process perspective, that question fascinates me.

Trying to answer that question for myself, I analyzed my sketch journal process about a year in. Now that I’ve kept it up consistently for a year and a half, I finally feel confident enough to write this post as a general how-to based on what I’ve learned.

Perhaps the title “how to keep a sketch journal” isn’t quite right; it’s really about how I keep a sketch journal. A journaling process will always be unique and personal. I’m hoping, though, that my tips and experiences might be helpful to someone who is trying to develop their own unique sketch journal habit. Let me know if you are and what ideas you’ve used to stay engaged. I’m endlessly fascinated!

• 

  A6-size, daily-carry Uglybooks are
  still my sketch journal format of choice.

  Choose a sketchbook format that’s small and light and therefore easily portable. This
  might not fit well with everyone’s lifestyle, but I do believe it’s imperative for a sketch journal to be a daily-carry for it to stick as a regular habit. Sketchwaiting and other unplanned, spontaneous opportunities for sketching happen all the time. In fact, I am convinced that they happen more often when you are prepared to capture them because you are more open to seeing those opportunities.

• Incorporate sketch journaling with some other routine you already have. Maybe you commute by bus or train – that’s a prime opportunity for a daily sketch. Or you walk your dog. If your dog wouldn’t cooperatively wait while you sketch (I know of only one dog who is that patient), snap a photo from wherever you are when he/she stops for a pee or a sniff. Then sketch later from that photo. For me, it’s fitness walking: That’s another daily habit, so the two reinforce each other.
• Don’t decide ahead of time what you want your sketch journal to be; in other words, don’t make rules. Leave space and time for your process to evolve organically into one that fits you best. Early in my sketching life, I wanted every sketch in my journal to be from life. If I hadn’t sketched anything by the end of the day, I would sketch any random object in front of me, and that would be a frustrating and meaningless exercise. Another time I tried a large-page format so that I could include multiple vignettes from the whole day. I couldn’t carry the large book with me, so I had to work in it only at home. That didn’t last long. Neither did the time I decided all sketches would be from imagination or memory. My current sketch journal – mostly from life but also some sketches from photos, memory and even comics – has stuck because it’s flexible.

• 

  7/13/25 The most common sketch journal content
  comes from my daily fitness walks. I enjoy recording
  the date, time and weather conditions and capturing
  the seasons.

  Be cautious if one of your motivations for keeping a sketch journal is so that you’ll have something to share regularly on social media. Like a written diary, a sketch journal can be totally private, or not. But if you make each entry with the intention of sharing, it may hold you back from authenticity.

• What should be the subject matter of the sketches? One way to answer that is to ask yourself, What would be enjoyable to look back on years from now? What might prompt a memory of a place or incident I had forgotten about? Or which would be more meaningful – a sketch of my new shoes, or a sketch of a random face from the Internet?

• What about writing? As a lifelong journal keeper, I have a separate written journal, so I don’t write much in my sketch journal except the date, time and weather (I like the diary-like feeling of those facts). But if you don’t keep a separate written journal, you may enjoy jotting notes about the sketch you just made or some unrelated thoughts. Be open to it if it happens, but again, no rules.

• 

  3/26/25 A sketchwaiting opportunity at my
  optometrist's office. This page also documents when
  I got a new pair of glasses.

  Ultimately, sketch journaling should be something you look forward to doing each day, not a burden that gives you anxiety when you’ve fallen behind. If you allow the process to tell you what you want your sketch journal to be instead of the other way around, I think it will be a pleasure, not an annoyance. 

7/15/25 I had snapped a photo of this carpet cleaning
service vehicle parked in front of a neighbor's house to
reference the phone number and website. Later, I 
realized it would make a good sketch to document
a potential step in Phase 3 of my downsizing project.

7/12/25 This page spread didn't fill out as much as I had intended, but Natalie and I chatted more than we sketched during lunch, and that's a good thing to document, too, by way of omission.

Cars and Community in Greenwood

 

6/28/25 Herkimer Coffee, Greenwood neighborhood

A couple more pups outside Herkimer

As I do every year, I arrived at the Greenwood Car Show by 7:30 a.m. and started the day by walking the entire 20-block length of the show. On that first walk-through, I don’t sketch; I just look and enjoy. Although noisy and heavy with the smell of exhaust, the parade of cars on Greenwood Avenue getting into their spaces is exciting and full of anticipation.

Then I walk halfway back up again to get breakfast at Herkimer Coffee, grab a table outside, and watch the street action unfold (top of post). Over coffee and a scone, I often sketch more dogs than cars, as lots of pups get tethered to the bike racks while their humans go in for sustenance.

By the time USk Seattle meets at 10 a.m., I’m already warmed up and ready for action myself!

Greenwood Car Show

Although I’ve felt for many years that the Greenwood Car Show is my favorite summertime event, I don’t always stop to consider how different it is from other big annual events that roll around this time of year.

What is it about this show that makes it my favorite? Although I do enjoy seeing and sketching classic cars, it’s not just the subject matter. Despite attracting crowds from all over the city, the Greenwood show somehow manages to maintain its neighborhoody feeling. I kept seeing families running into friends there. Cheerful conversations were all around.

The sketch at top right on this page is my favorite this year. Spontaneously, I got the idea to draw the white lines over the black, and I love this look.

Then there’s the whole car enthusiast community: Owners chatting about all the work they’ve done, how long they’ve owned it, and all the cars that came before and after it. As I sketched, I overheard people reminisce about cars they or previous generations once drove, and I did my share of feeling nostalgic, too (I always look for Datsun Z cars of my high school fantasies).

Cars have always been a strong part of American culture, and the Greenwood Car Show drives (ahem) that point home. I’m happy to be part of it every year, catching the stories in my sketchbook.

Ahhh, my high school fantasy cars!

Greenwood Avenue is closed to traffic for the show, but not to this guy's eye-catching vehicle!

On Saturday night, I got some takeout sushi for dinner. Sketchwaiting outside Akebono, I was still in car show mode and gave my own Miata a little sketchbook love. 

Cybertruck

 

5/22/25 Feel free to avert your gaze.

I don’t usually have strong opinions about most vehicles, one way or the other. The exception is the Tesla Cybertruck, which I believe to be the ugliest vehicle ever to deface planet Earth.

Seeing more and more of them the past year, despite my low standards for acceptable sketching subjects, I refused to sketch one (if only on principle) because I didn’t want to look at one long enough to sketch it. Sketchwaiting near University Village recently, however, I spotted one parked near the sidewalk. I still had 10 minutes to kill – the maximum length of time I could tolerate searing my eyes.

As I sketched, trying to dredge up something positive about it, I had to admit it’s relatively easy to draw: It’s entirely made up of straight lines.

Finishing a Hundred-Plus at Pike Place Market

3/6/25 Fishmongers at Pike Place Fish Co.

LINK light rail southbound

On Day 4 of One Week 100 People, Roy, Mary Jean and I met at Pike Place Market to hammer out a few more. All of us were close to hitting a hundred, so the pressure was off, and it was pure fun.

After warming up on my light rail ride into town (at left), I got rolling at Pike Place Fish Company (top of post), famous for throwing salmon to each other to entertain tourists. At 10 a.m., the Market was still relatively empty enough that I actually had an unobstructed view of the fishmongers for a few minutes.

For the rest of my hundred, I strategically stood near the intersection of First and Pike, which has an all-way walk signal. That means pedestrians have to wait a bit longer than usual to cross, giving me a little more time. The most fun, though, was the guy making balloon animals (99), who eventually fashioned himself eye-catching headgear (103).

Roy shared his halo-halo with us!

I sketched 103 – 107 (I just realized I counted 103 twice) over lunch at Ludi’s Restaurant (below), which has a menu focused on authentic Filipino dishes. On Roy’s recommendation, I got a traditional silog with (nontraditional) veggie lumpia, all of which was delicious. The highlight of the meal, though, was the bright purple, ube-flavored halo-halo that Roy shared with us for dessert! It’s an amazing concoction of shave ice, sweet beans, coconut milk and some kind of unfamiliar fruit, all topped with ube ice cream, three cherries and a plastic flamingo. What a mess we made on the table sharing it!

Lunch at Ludi's Restaurant. All three of our round-robin concertina books are close enough to being filled that we decided to call the project finished. It's so much fun to go back through it and see the sketches MJ and Roy made. I cherish my book!

LINK light rail northbound

On the light rail ride home, I managed two more. The last one on the train, 109 (at right), may be my favorite of the whole week (despite being caught sketching her).

Since I knew Day 5 would be very busy, I didn’t expect to get any people sketched. You probably know, though, that I can be an over-achiever, so with one day left to the challenge, I couldn’t let it go. I snagged a few more at the Safeway pharmacy and Aegis (below). My final total: 113 (or maybe 114, since I can’t seem to count and draw at the same time).

3/7/25 Sketchwaiting at the Safeway pharmacy
and a couple of folks at Aegis

Caregiver at Aegis