A True Story

 

Walking Stories

 

2/19/25 Green Lake neighborhood

A few very short stories from my daily walks:

Opportunistic sketching on a very blustery day: I told myself that if the gusts stopped for a moment, I would sketch whatever I saw right there. This was it (above). 

 

3/13/25 Green Lake neighborhood

Supposedly our city council outlawed leaf blowers a few years back, a move that most citizens applauded exuberantly. But it turned out that they were only talking about city contractors. Anyone else can still go on blowing, which I detest. The noise, the dust, the total ineffectualness – it all annoys me greatly. While I was sketching, two leaf blowers started working on the same sidewalk, blowing against each other! You can imagine how quickly I finished my sketch (at left).

 

I don’t necessarily sketch this cherry tree every year (below), but since it’s on one of my regular walking routes, I always start checking its buds around now. They were still as tight as fists on this breezy day. But the calendar says today is the vernal equinox, so that’s got to mean something to the trees, right?

3/16/25 Maple Leaf neighborhood

My Old Office Chair

 

3/15/25 Thanks, old chair, for your 30+ years of service! 

A couple weeks after moving into my new office/studio, I realized that my old chair was no longer comfortable. First I replaced the two foot rests (one at my PC, one at my drawing table), hoping that would do the trick. They helped, but something about the furniture and the fact that my chair was now on hardwood instead of carpeting somehow changed the ergonomics.

On the other hand, my new “dining” chair (which I had proudly assembled), which is actually an office chair, has been very comfortable. For a few days, I rolled it back and forth between the diningroom and the office, using it at both my computer and drawing work stations (the color temperature study I did last week was a chair-testing sketch) to see how it felt. I thought I might miss the arms on my old chair, but I didn’t at all. In fact, sometimes when drawing, the arms have gotten in the way, so an armless chair was better.

I decided it was time to replace my old office chair, now more than 30 years old, and I would have no problem choosing the right one: I got a second one identical to my “dining” chair (only the color is different). The best part: I already knew how to assemble it, so I wouldn’t have to sweat that part, either!

My new chair in the "office" side of my office/studio.

Compared to Greg’s office chair, I don’t feel much sentimentality toward my old chair. One arm is torn, and the upholstery is looking a bit thin in places. It has served me well and doesn’t owe me anything. I’ll probably put it out on the Buy Nothing group as I did with his chair. I couldn’t let it go, though, without a farewell sketch.

Taking it in Stride

2/22/25 Residents watch a program about building construction innnovations.

3/11/25

As I’ve gotten to know Greg’s fellow residents at Aegis, I’ve often wondered what they used to be like when they were younger and healthier. As we were all chatting together one day, I learned from one of the caregivers that Jamie had been a principal at a prominent local architectural firm. She pulled out her phone and showed me images of a couple of familiar downtown skyscrapers that he and his firm had designed. Seeing him now, barely functioning with severe dementia, it’s hard to imagine, but I appreciate knowing something about who he used to be.

Sandy was a painter, and it’s clear that she still has artistic skills and interests. During the “coloring socials” when residents are offered coloring pages and art supplies to use, Sandy will occupy herself for long periods carefully and mindfully coloring beautiful pages.

3/14/25

I have come to learn who to avoid sitting near during snack time if I don’t want to risk having food thrown at me. I keep my belongings on me while I visit (otherwise, things have a way of walking off).

Val, a very thin, frail-looking woman, has a mean right hook that has caused injury to some caregivers. The same strong overhand that can lob a balloon across the room during balloon volleyball can do the same with a juice cup (sometimes still containing juice).

The caregivers all take it in stride, as I have learned to. Greg has, too. He often finds humor in his fellow residents’ behavior, which makes me laugh, too. Just another day at Aegis. 

3/14/25

Pi Day

 

3/14/25 Macrina Bakery, Maple Leaf neighborhood

Given that geometry was never my favorite subject, Pi Day is not usually one of the holidays I observe. But toward the end of a busy Friday when I needed a break, I had no objection to a mini maple apple pi at Macrina Bakery.

Not only was I able to snag a seat at all at this always-busy place, I was lucky enough to get my favorite window seat with a great view of a bumpy, old linden (which I had sketched from the same window shortly after Macrina opened in 2023). It’s a nice spot that also gives me a view of the Maple Leaf Reservoir water tower and park walkers.

Color Study from Photo

 

3/13/25 Prismacolors in Stillman & Birn Zeta sketchbook (photo reference)

After a couple of attempts at trying to study color temperature indoors (once inside a café and once at Suzzallo Library), I’ve been itchin’ to try it outdoors. Artificial lighting coming from all directions mixed up with natural window lighting makes a challenging exercise even more confusing.

I can’t be bothered with waiting for the weather to accommodate me, so I resorted to a photo reference (see below). My color temp analysis: The backlit trees are slightly warmer than their shadows. The background light is relatively cool. The warmest areas are the sunlit grass and foliage.

Still leaning on a simple complementary palette, I chose a dark purple and the yellowest yellow-green I could find. Initially I tried lavender for the cool light, but I abandoned it for a pale blue. The mixing pyramid shows the three hues I settled on.

In the past, before I became aware of color temperature, I probably would have treated this more as a value study (even if I used color) by making the trees and their cast shadows the same hue and leaving the lighted background areas paper-white. If I were doing this on location, even if I had noted to myself, “The background light is relatively cool,” I probably wouldn’t have colored the background at all, simply to save time. But thinking like a painter in the comfort of my (new!) studio, I wanted to cover every speck of paper with color, even if very pale.

I do like the subtle differentiation between the trees and their shadows, especially because the yellow-green gives the dark purple trees a slight shimmer of warmth, like an underpainting.

Reference photo taken at high noon in November.

I know it will be more challenging to do this kind of analysis on location before sketching. Will I eventually get faster as I integrate the learning? I hope so. I also don’t want it to be a mechanical exercise (as it is now while I practice). I want the results to reflect what I’ve learned by being more expressive and dynamic and less literally descriptive (“trees are green; sky is blue”).

At heart, I will probably always be a realistic sketcher; it goes against my nature to choose random, crazy colors just to be less descriptive (like those rainbow faces I made in class). My goal here is to make color choices that make sense and seem “real” without simply trying to replicate what I see. I think this sketch is moving in that direction. What do you think?

Pushed Indoors Again in Columbia City

3/12/25 Empire Roasters & Records, Columbia City

Déjà vu: I recalled a USk Seattle outing in Columbia City way back in 2016 when heavy rain and wind pushed us all indoors. It wasn’t quite that bad on Wednesday, but it was definitely wet enough for our small group to retreat indoors.

Mary Jean and I decided on Empire Roasters and Records, where I had sketched with Roy and Kate just about a year ago. It’s a funky space combining a café and record store on three narrow floors. As I did last time, I admired all the furniture made from wood that still retained the raw edges, cracks and holes of the trees it came from.

I started with my current obsession: A color temperature study of the interior I faced. Using the tricks that seem to work best for me in Sarah Bixler’s class, which I had just finished, I looked for the warmest spots (the man’s face and the yellow painting on the wall) and the coolest area (his shirt). I noted that the light coming in through the window was on the cool side. From there, I just kept asking and comparing, Is this cooler or warmer than…? Eventually I want to bust out of this blue/orange (plus a little yellow) palette, but for now, it’s working for me as a learning tool. (I added the ceiling lamp at the library right before we had our throwdown.)

That done, I could relax and make a comics diary page to commend myself for unpacking my drawing table and filling my sketchbook bookcase (below).

It’s a shame that we couldn’t sketch outdoors because the Columbia City neighborhood is full of old architecture and fun business street fronts. But I was happy to have a comfy opportunity to work out color temperature concepts in a real-life location, not just a portrait from a photo.