North Fremont

 

6/9/24 North Fremont

When most people think of Fremont, the troll, Lenin, and the monument to JP and Gertrude probably come to mind. That’s what I think of, anyway, and that southern end of Fremont is the only part I’ve spent any time sketching. On Fremont’s northern edge, though, where the neighborhood butts up against Phinney Ridge, it’s a little less “Center of the Universe-y” and more working class or maybe just more neighborhood-y.

To celebrate a friend’s birthday, we decided to meet at Uneeda Burger, which is housed in a building that must have been a garage at some point. The sunny deck in front was an ideal spot to devour messy, drippy burgers (both animal- and plant-based and taller than they were wide) on a lovely Sunday.

Arriving a little early to make time to sketch (and finished after lunch and a fun visit to the Fremont Sunday Market), I captured a few other buildings visible from the intersection of North 44^th and Fremont Avenue North. The oldest was probably the Fremont Abbey Arts Center, a 1914 brick building that was originally St. Paul’s Lutheran Church.

Process notes: Like my old apartment building, none of these buildings struck me as particularly sketchworthy. The lighting wasn’t great on any of them, and let’s face it, I’m generally not a fan of sketching buildings just for the sake of sketching buildings (unless I’m in Amsterdam, Coimbra or Kyoto, of course). I’ve noticed, though, an interesting change in my attitude about architecture since I began making on-location comics. Because each sketch tends to be no more than thumbnail size to fit several on a comic-style spread, it’s much easier and faster to draw any building, even if it doesn’t interest me much. I look at each as simply a part of the larger story – in this case, an intersection in north Fremont – and it has become much more enjoyable to sketch these sometimes ho-hum structures. I don’t worry about getting angles or perspective right; I just choose a building’s corner and simplify it enough to fit into 2 or 3 inches. And I end up liking these small sketches much more than building portraits that I might fuss over for much longer. That’s a huge, unexpected benefit of embracing comics!

Above Targy’s Tavern

 

6/7/24 Upper Queen Anne neighborhood

Besides a change in view, I had a second reason for choosing the Queen Anne Top Pot to observe National Doughnut Day: It’s located only a half-mile from my very first apartment as an independent adult. Since living there 40 years ago, I’ve driven by a few times when I was in the neighborhood, but it recently occurred to me that I had never sketched the building.

When I arrived, the entire front of the building was in shade, and I was surprised by how tall the street maples had grown (I guess that happens in 40 years!). My apartment near the center of the upper floor had one window that looked out on the street, and back then I could actually see the street. Now all the apartment windows are completely obscured by those maples, at least in summer (though the trees probably also keep the rooms cooler).

Not a single thing about the scene appealed to me in terms of a sketch subject: It was too dark, too blah, and frankly, the part I was interested in – the window to my apartment – wasn’t even visible. Only nostalgia and a desire to document it made me put pencils to paper.

Incidentally, the corner of the main floor is still occupied by Targy’s Tavern, "Queen Anne's Favorite Watering Hole," which was founded in 1937. The building itself was built in 1902. (I didn’t know either of those facts when I lived there; I just Googled.) Whenever I used to tell people I lived above Targy’s Tavern, they expressed sympathy about the assumed noise. Actually, I never had much of a problem with that source of noise; the buses going by on 6^th Avenue West were a lot worse, day in and day out. And can you believe I never had a drink at Targy’s?

Queen Anne Top Pot

 

6/7/24 Top Pot Doughnuts, Queen Anne neighborhood

I typically observe National Doughnut Day at the Top Pot Doughnuts in Wedgwood, mainly because the twin palm trees and giant donut on the building are fun to draw. This year, for a different view, I went to the Top Pot in upper Queen Anne. Although there are no palm trees, big communication and microwave towers are all over the place. (The weird thing that I sketched that I couldn’t identify turned out to be part of an obsolete AT&T microwave system.)

It was such a lovely day last Friday that lots of families were enjoying the outdoor tables at Top Pot and Molly Moon’s Ice Cream next door. I had just as much fun observing and eavesdropping as I did sketching.

U Village Rewards

6/5/24 University Village

 

If you want to train a dog for good behavior, you have to reward it accordingly.

I had enough boxes and bags of household discards to fill up the Subaru hatchback, so I made a trip to Goodwill. My reward was a stop at U Village, where Molly Moon’s Ice Cream called to me. Although the ice cream hit the spot (and it had been ages since I’d had ice cream), the real reward was sitting under an umbrella on that warm and sunny afternoon, basking in the promise of summer.

Delridge Farmers Market

 

6/8/24 Delridge Farmers Market

Although USk Seattle has met at many community farmers markets over the years, the one in south Seattle’s Delridge neighborhood was new to us. In fact, it is fairly new; it was started during the pandemic by the African Community Housing and Development organization.

As far as markets go, it’s notable that Delridge gives priority to BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Person of Color) vendors. Long lines formed at a couple of booths that were giving away free produce and basic supplies to low-income neighbors. The market is held every summer Saturday morning in front of the Masjid Al Furquan Mosque (formerly St. James Lutheran Church).

I had the most fun sketching Queen Sugar Baking Company’s resident pug. I think it was in his presentation about sketch reportage that Gabi Campanario said something that has stayed with me: If a dog is mentioned (or sketched) in a story, Gabi said, a good journalist will learn the name of the dog. Check: The pug’s name is Ajax.

A Moment at Gas Works Park

 

6/6/24 Gas Works Park

Early June’s atmospheric river was a doozy, but we crossed it – and on the other side was summer! When I saw the weather forecast last Thursday – sunny and in the high 60s – I knew where I was headed: Gas Works Park!

While it’s my favorite park any time of the year, it’s really special on a blue-sky day shining on Lake Union. The day called for color (see, this is why I can’t choose between my children); in fact, the always-formidable gas works called for my larger A5 Hahnemühle sketchbook. I still used my basic comics approach, but the larger book gave me more room. Like Sunday color comics!

New restroom and old gas works

Although I’m accustomed to using the small A6-size spreads (exactly half the size of the A5 spread), it felt deliciously spacious to open up the A5 – like moving from a small apartment to a large house. It would be tempting to use that size all the time . . . except I don’t want to carry it everywhere. It’s nice on special occasions, though, and I can’t think of a more special occasion than a warm and sunny June afternoon.

On my way out of the park, I stopped to document its new restroom (at left). It’s rather utilitarian, like something that you might see at a campsite, but it’s a huge improvement over the dark, creepy, nasty restroom it replaces.

Oh, hello, Your Majesty... where have you been?

Kit Angst: Don’t Make Me Choose My Children

 

All the media I'm currently carrying: Slender, lightweight pencils vs. heavy, bulky markers, especially my favorite Faber-Castell Pitt Dual Marker (near center) and several acrylic markers.

It has probably been a couple of years since I started using my super-slimmed-down pandemic-edition sketch kit as my ongoing daily-carry. With a watercolor pencil-focused kit, my bag was both lightweight and slender. I could easily carry both an A6-size Hahnemühle sketchbook for colored sketches and an Uglybook for quick, tonal sketches and not feel the bulk or weight on my fitness walks. Everything I needed for spontaneous walk-sketches as well as planned destinations like Urban Sketchers outings were with me at all times without constant shuffling of materials from bag to bag. I had finally found my sketch kit/bag sweet spot, and I was extremely satisfied.

Until a couple of months ago – when on-location comics came into my life. Although I tried water-soluble graphite briefly, it just doesn’t have the strong, high-contrast look that I love about markers for the comics format. Black or dark brush pens and markers used with white and a bright contrasting color on a midtone-colored Uglybook: That’s still my favorite look so far. And the issue is that markers and brush pens are bulkier than pencils.

Tight and overstuffed.

I haven’t been using pencils nearly as much as I used to, mainly because when making comics, colored Uglybooks pack so much punch without any additional color. If I remove all my colored and graphite pencils, the markers have plenty of space and even room to grow. But every now and then I still want to use color on white paper in a more traditional way, so if I’m going to continue carrying pencils, I must also continue carrying a white sketchbook.

Arrghhh!! Don’t make me choose among my children!

My bag was getting so stuffed that I could barely push my hand in; something had to be done. For now, I’ve kept all the media, but I’ve replaced the bulkier A6 Hahnemühle with a white Uglybook. It’s slim and light, but as you can see from the photo below, the pages buckle even with light washes, and the sizing isn’t ideal. It certainly can’t take the kind of spritzing I like to do with watercolor pencils, so it’s a big compromise. The bag, however, already feels less bulky and more comfortable to use and carry.

Hahnemuhle and Uglybook

A6 Hahnemuhle (with my own sticker) and
Uglybook (sticker by Draplin Design Co.)

Hahnemuhle at left is much bulkier, but the slim, white
Uglybook (which I've been using for skyscapitos with watercolor pencils) can't take much water.

The new (probably temporary) daily-carry: Two Uglybooks

Quite a while back, I had bought some Hahnemühle 100 percent cotton paper (the same as what’s in my A6 daily-carry) in pad form. My intention was to try stitching some simple signatures (which I did for many years until 2019) in an A6-ish size. Maybe the time has come to finally do it.

The new daily-carry: Lighter and slimmer, but compromised.

Since I’m showing you my daily-carry bag, it’s a good opportunity to show off my latest Rickshaw purchases. No, not more bags – eyeglass Coozy Cases! Rickshaw has long been known in the fountain pen community for its plush-lined Coozies, rolls and other cases for pampered pens. Then at least a year ago, owner Mark Dwight teased on social media a prototype of an eyeglass Coozy. I did my share of shouting my approval in the comments (and also reminded him periodically, in case he forgot).

Rickshaw eyeglass Coozies! Two for my daily-carry bag, plus a third to keep in my car with my spare glasses.

Finally the announcement came a few weeks ago, and I couldn’t order them fast enough! The eyeglass cases I had been using were generic brown fake leather freebies that I had received from my optician. You know the kind I mean – they are about as fashionable as vinyl pocket protectors (and probably from the same era). Now my glasses cases are as stylin’ as my bags!

Plush lining to keep my glasses fashionable as well as cozy.