Magnolia United Church of Christ

5/11/18 Magnolia United Church of Christ

It was cold and cloudy as Seattle USk members gathered on the front lawn of Magnolia United Church of Christ, but inside it was warm and welcoming. The friendly church staff opened the sanctuary for us to sketch the stained glass, vaulted ceilings and other details. Along with the majority of sketchers, though, I opted to stay chilled so I could tackle the church’s exterior. Described as reminiscent of a Cotswold cottage, it has the kind of rustic, irregular masonry that was fun to try to capture. On this overcast morning, though, it was tough finding shadows to punch it up.

5/11/18 Spotted in Magnolia Village

Magnolia Village, the neighborhood’s retail center, is just a few blocks away, so I walked briskly into town to warm up. I considered sketching Fire Station 41 with its bright red doors and Art Deco architecture. . . but what I really wanted was a fire engine! I walked back and forth for a while, hoping one would appear (and, you know, just park outside – not rush to a fire). Instead, I spotted a bright red Mack concrete pumper truck. OK, so it’s not a fire engine, but it would have to do.

Flickers

5/6/18 male flicker (photo reference)

I finally got around to finishing a project I’d been thinking about for months. Back in January a pair of feisty flickers began trying to use our feeder, which is designed for much smaller birds. Although they managed to get some seeds, it was not without odd contortions and acrobatics. They’re too large to stand on the perches, so they would cling to the side of the feeder instead and bend over to peck the seeds. They were comical and entertaining, and their persistence gave me a chance to sketch them several times.

Over the course of several days in January and February, each time I saw the same male flicker I continue adding more and more detail to the same sketch.

Meanwhile, Greg was shooting photos of most of our avian diners, including the flicker, which gave me an idea. I thought it would be fun to do as many sketches as possible from life first and then eventually do a more finished drawing from a photo. As you know from my frequent complaints while I was taking classes in colored and graphite pencil drawing last year, I’m not a fan of drawing from photos. I do, however, understand the value of learning by using this method, and I know I have benefitted from working this way. Since I had done several sketches from life first, I felt that drawing from a photo would teach me more about the bird without taking away the freshness of life drawing. So that’s what I did: I used one of Greg’s photos of the same flicker I’d sketched as my reference.

1/7 and 1/28/18 (in progress; from life)

1/29/18 (in progress; from life)

2/2/18 (from life)

Indeed, the experience was as I’d hoped. Of course, I enjoyed sketching from life much more; I’m so much more engaged when my model is endlessly moving and, well, alive. But drawing from the photo taught me more about the flicker’s proportions, form and details, and my understanding will probably inform my sketches the next time I see it.

3/15/18 (from life)

2/2/18 (from life)

The last few weeks as the temperatures have warmed, we’ve seen fewer and fewer birds at our feeders as the grub gets tastier and more available from natural sources. We’ve enjoyed endless entertainment all winter and spring, but it’s time to take the feeders down until autumn. I’ll look forward to giving the flickers a shot again – from life, of course. Heck, we might even buy a feeder that will accommodate them better!

Female flicker

Male flicker (Photos by Greg Mullin)

Male flicker

Ground Sloth

5/4/18

It’d been a good six months since I last sketched at the Burke Museum. It’s one of my favorite places to while away time when I bring my car in for servicing nearby, but I’d been long overdue (maybe I haven’t gotten my oil changed as often as I should?). At the end of this year, the Burke is going to close for nine months while it moves into its brand new digs right next door. I’m looking forward to eventually seeing all the artifacts that have been hidden in the archives because they don’t have space to exhibit them all in the old facility. In the meantime, I’m going to try to visit more often to get my skeleton fix before the long closure.

I’d seen photos on the Burke’s Instagram account indicating that the mastodon had been taken down for maintenance and replaced by something new. It’s the cast skeleton of an 11,000-year-old ground sloth. I wish another visitor had come by so that I could have included something in my sketch to show the scale (but I had the exhibit nearly to myself that day). Standing about as tall as the mastodon, the sloth has a teeny-tiny head and huge ribcage that make it look insect-like.

Pentel Multi 8 + Koh-i-Noor Leads = Win

Pentel Multi 8 colored lead holder

Several years ago I bought a Pentel Multi 8 colored lead holder. With slots for eight 2mm leads in one pen-like holder, it seemed like an ideal compact sketching tool for making small spots of color. The holder itself has a relatively chunky barrel that I find comfortable to use. You spin the mechanism around to choose the color you want and depress the knock to extend the clutch and selected lead. Sounds cool, right? Unfortunately, the leads it came with are hard and very unsaturated – downright wimpy in color. Disappointed, I put it aside and never took it out for road testing.

Luckily for me, I didn’t get rid of it. Fast-forward to a couple of weeks ago when I was writing a review for The Well-Appointed Desk on a set of Koh-i-Noor Diamond Drawing Pencils. Although I didn’t care for the form factor of the lead holders – the classic slender, hexagonal style that engineers used to favor – I was pleasantly surprised by the leads. Much softer than I expected, they are also relatively saturated in color. After I finished the review for the Desk, I even discovered that they are a bit water-soluble.

 

Koh-i-Noor Diamond Drawing lead holders with matching colored leads

Koh-i-Noor's 6 colors (slightly water-soluble)

Don’t get too excited – these leads will never replace any of my favorite colored pencils, and they only come in six colors. But here’s the interesting part. As I was working on the review, I pulled out a couple of other colored lead holders I had, including the Pentel Multi 8 – which, it turns out, holds 2mm leads! Yes – the proverbial light bulb moment. I popped all six Koh-i-Noor leads into the Pentel (I had to snap them in half first because they were too long), and now the Pentel Multi 8 contains at least six colors that are useable! (If you’re interested in this setup, skip the Koh-i-Noor lead holders and just buy the lead refills in an assorted color pack.)

The business end

I wish I’d had these parts assembled last winter when I was on my minimal sketch kit challenge. The solution would have been a much better compact color option than either the red/blue bicolor pencil or the rainbow pencil that I tried. I’m going to remember this for my next minimalism challenge. And I’d certainly take it with me to Gilligan’s Island.

Dutch Colonial

5/3/18 Maple Leaf neighborhood

Although this architectural style is common in Seattle as a whole, we don’t see too many Dutch Colonials in Maple Leaf. Amidst a long block of small, plain, nondescript houses on Northeast 85^th, this one stands handsome, well-kept and surrounded by green.

I didn’t know the name of this style until I sketched it. Curious about what I was doing, a friendly contractor working inside emerged. When I showed him some previous sketches of neighborhood houses and said I was interested in the variety of architecture, he immediately told me what style I was sketching.

Wish List Item Fulfilled: Sketch Tool Organizer!

Wish list item fulfilled!

Shortly after Christmas last year, I drew up a wish list of sketching materials and accessories that still elude me. The last item on my list was an upright, slotted sketch tool case that would attach to the inside of my Rickshaw bag with Velcro. A supplement to my Tran Portfolio Pencil Case, which holds all my colored pencils upright, the case I was looking for would hold all the other tools that don’t fit in the Tran’s skinny elastic loops. I even designed it and drew the pattern – but I needed someone to make it for me. I finally found that someone – and serendipitously, it was through the Field Nuts Facebook group!

It all started with a Field Notes trucker hat that I had offered up for swap. While negotiating the trade, I learned that the woman I was chatting with had an Etsy shop – filled with handmade garments, bags and accessories with a charming sensibility. Hmmm, this woman is creative and can sew . . . ? I proposed my idea – and she accepted!

 

The front slots have small pleats to give them more dimensional space.

A few weeks later, I am the very pleased owner of a unique sketch tool organizer that was custom-made for me by Brynn James. Although she worked from the pattern I had designed, she improved my original concept by making the slots more dimensional so that the tools would fit together better. It also accommodates more types of tools now. Even a fat Faber-Castell Pitt Big Brush Marker fits easily. All my usual daily-carry implements – which stagger nicely to minimize bulk – fit comfortably with room to spare (and I’m trying hard not to keep filling the available slots!).

Attached to the Rickshaw bag with Velcro

All Rickshaw messenger bags come with a wide Velcro strip on one inner wall. When I designed the pattern, I hadn’t thought about how tall brand-new Blackwing pencils are, so I attach the organizer to the lower half of the strip. It’s still fully secure. Because it’s made of several layers of fabric, the organizer is sturdy but also flexible. It conforms to the bag’s natural curve when the outer pockets are filled with my glasses, keys and phone.

On the bag’s opposite wall is a sketchbook and the Tran, and in between is my “purse stuff” (held together with a Cocoon Grid-It).

 

Top view of bag with everything in place

The bonus? In addition to everything else she makes, Brynn is also a textile designer, and she designed the lovely floral fabric. It goes beautifully with both the neon lime lining of my waterproof Rickshaw and the orange lining of my “summer” Rickshaw. Seeing all that color inside my bag just makes me smile!

It looks beautiful in both bags!

I took it out for its first road test a few days ago, and it works exactly as I’d hoped – and intended! All the tools are visible, upright and in easy reach. Really, that’s not so much to ask for, right?

So – one wish list item fulfilled! And there’s more good news – Brynn may start carrying the sketch tool organizer in her Etsy shop!

Here's my original pattern that I sent to Brynn, which she improved in the final product.

Sunshine at Hing Hay Park with Gabi

5/5/18 Hing Hay Park's new gateway

Unlike last week at the rainy Troll, the site of yesterday’s 10x10 USk workshop was sunny and bright: Hing Hay Park in the International District. Gabi Campanario led his 12 students through a series of exercises that focused on “Pocket Urban Sketching”: keeping it simple with a small-format sketchbook and putting a large scene onto a small page.

5/5/18 Gabi's watercolor demo

With colorful subject matter like the geometric red gateway, Grand Pavilion and even small kiosks designed with a Chinese theme, Hing Hay Park gave everyone plenty to sketch. A community gathering place, Hing Hay was full of busy people all morning – a tai chi class, a group filming a performance, a lively ping pong game – so Gabi’s students fit right in. Lots of curious passers-by stopped to peek over shoulders and comment on the work in multiple languages.

In addition to documenting the workshop’s activities with photos and sketches, I was also Gabi’s teaching assistant. During one of his demos, though, I managed to sneak away to sketch the spectacular new gateway at the park’s entrance. Installed in February in time for Lunar New Year, the gateway marked the completion of the park’s expansion project. I’d walked past the park several times since its installation but hadn’t had the chance to sketch it until now. The striking, modern sculpture is in sharp contrast to the traditional Asian motifs and organic trees.

5/5/18 Gabi gives tips on measuring proportions accurately.

Throwdown critique

Practicing measuring

Tai chi class in progress