Travel Bits and Pieces

 

5/29/22 Maytown rest area in Washington, where we stopped for a 
picnic lunch.

Although we didn’t travel far, and the locations were not new to us, this was only our second trip since the Before Times (our first was last September to Ocean Shores), so it felt special. It was a relaxing, rejuvenating week. The beach was familiar, but we had new experiences on either end of Cannon Beach: Staying in two McMenamins hotels in historic buildings, one in Portland and one in Centralia, Wash. Nicely appointed with original antiques and reproductions, they are fun buildings to visit, but the interiors are dark and sometimes difficult to sketch. I did sketch a lamp in each, however, since fanciful, ornate lighting seems to be a McMenamins thing.

This last post is a catch-all of bits and pieces that didn’t fit into the previous posts. I don’t have many stories here, but I put a few comments in the cutlines (including my hotel recommendations). I also included a few photos from the two McMenamins hotels (which I had to brighten digitally quite a bit to compensate for the dim lighting everywhere).

5/30/22 lamp in our room at McMenamins
Kennedy School, Portland

5/30/22 Cannon Beach sunset

5/31 and 6/1/22 Cannon Beach sunsets

A variety of Cannon Beach bits sketched during the week

6/3/22 lamp in our room at McMenamins Olympic Club
Hotel, Centralia

6/4/22 view from our room at the Olympic Club

A haiku painted on the wall was part of the lovely decor in our Kennedy School Hotel room. We loved this hotel and highly recommend it!

Hallway art at Kennedy School

An original blackboard in our Kennedy School room
invites guests to write and doodle. How could I resist?

The chifferobe in our Kennedy School room.

Other McMenamins hotels offer basic Bic pens as room giveaways. The Kennedy School has a more appropriate souvenir that I was thrilled to take home!

Some of the many lamps decorating the Kennedy
School's Courtyard Restaurant.

Guest rooms in McMenamins Olympic Club Hotel
do not have bathrooms. Instead, guests use "shared
private" baths and WCs down the hall. Imagining
a bank of stalls like a public restroom, I was skeptical
of the "shared private" oxymoron, but they 
were actually fine. Each bathroom was, indeed, private,
 and cleaned and attended to very regularly.

Hallway on the Olympic Club guest floor.

Lamp in our Olympic Club room.

Our room was dedicated to Joe Robinson, a local entrepreneur who "gave material expression to his faith in the future of Centralia" by building the Olympic Club Hotel in 1913. Although the shared baths and toilets were down the hall, each room had its own sink. The Olympic Club Hotel is fun to visit, but I do NOT recommend staying here. The Amtrak and freight trains visible from the hotel run all night long, whistling loudly as they approach the nearby station. Kitchen, bar and billiard room noises from downstairs went late into the night, too. I heard it all through the earplugs that were conveniently but uselessly provided.

McMenamins Anderson School

2/21/16 Platinum brush pen, watercolor, colored pencils

McMenamins is a Washington and Oregon chain of unique hotels, brew pubs and other venues housed in renovated historic buildings. Appointed with lively themed décor and artwork, the various McMenamins locations serve great food and brews (my favorite is the Terminator Stout!). Urban Sketchers Seattle’s ad hoc Friday group has sketched a couple times at McMenamins’ 6 Arms Pub on Capitol Hill.

This morning USk Seattle met at McMenamins newest location that opened last fall in the Anderson School property in Bothell. In addition to a hotel, this McMenamins also includes a movie theater and several food and beverage venues on the grounds of the former Bothell Junior High, built in 1931.

Although cold, it wasn’t yet raining when we arrived, so many sketchers got a sketch or two outdoors. Bundled up in my down jacket, scarf and fingerless gloves, I wasn’t too uncomfortable as I sketched the tiny Shed, which looks no bigger than an actual shed, except it’s apparently large enough to go inside and sit with an ale.

2/21/16 Zebra brush pen

When my feet started to get numb, I ducked into the Tavern on the Square, the largest food venue on the premises, to warm up. Joining a number of other sketchers scattered about the toasty fireplace and lounge area, I made a small sketch of a booth next to the bar. A glass of Terminator was tempting, but I had to drive myself home, so I settled for coffee.

I wanted to go back outside to take a few photos, but by then it started pouring, and a harsh wind came up, too. We all agreed that McMenamins Anderson School is worth revisiting, especially when the weather warms up.

Queen Anne McMenamins (and New Nameless White Pen)

 

4/3/24 Queen Anne McMenamins

Over the years, I’ve eaten, slept and sketched at numerous McMenamins venues. The chain of Pacific Northwest breweries, pubs and historic hotels always offers vintage or otherwise unique décor that makes them fun to sketch. I rarely get to lower Queen Anne, though, so I don’t recall ever eating at the McMenamins there. An appointment in the area last week gave me a good excuse to stop in for lunch.

McMenamins are well-known for their antique and nicely reproduced lamps, so I had to include a couple in my small page spread. I probably gave the least attention to my mac ‘n’ cheese and side of tots because once they appeared at the table, I was too busy scarfing them down. One other way in which McMenamins is unique: Whenever I’ve ordered the mac ‘n’ cheese there, it’s always served with a spoon. No brew this time because I had to drive myself home, but I recommend the Terminator Stout (“Black as the darkest night and as rich as the most decadent dessert, Terminator is for the true Stout lover”), which is my favorite McMenamins beer.

Nameless but noteworthy

Newsflash: Last week at the USk sketch outing, Kate and I both noticed Allan using an opaque white pen we hadn’t seen before. Upon our inquiry, he pulled out a bulk package of them and handed one to each of us. Nameless and brandless, it’s a double-ended acrylic paint marker with a bullet tip on one end and brush tip on the other. Although skeptical, I liked what I was seeing in Allan’s sketch, so I happily accepted his gift. I’ve been using it ever since, and holy-moly, it’s the smoothest, most opaque application of white acrylic I’ve tried so far, and it requires no shaking, priming or wiping off of blops. The paint behaves and feels more like Faber-Castell’s white Pitt Artist Pen than a Posca, but more opaque than Pitt.

I’m trying not to get too excited, though – I’ve been seduced before by Casanova-like charmers that eventually break my opaque-white-paint-loving heart. We’ll see, we’ll see.

If you’re curious, I searched on Amazon, and I think it’s this one. If it ends up being a good one, it’s a great value in this bulk package. But if I were you, I’d wait until I report back. Stay tuned (it always takes a while for these Casanovas to show their true colors – and clogs).

Centralia Excursion

9/5/18 Amtrak Bistro

About 90 miles south of Seattle is the town of Centralia. Known mainly for its outlet mall and antique shops, it also has many older buildings, some better kept up than others, and plenty of small-town charm. Those 90 miles can be an unpleasant drive (taking as long as two-and-a-half to three hours on a bad day), but one of Centralia’s highlights is that the Amtrak stops there. Kate invited a few of us to join her on a sketching excursion by train, which was a relaxing and often scenic alternative to grim and boring I-5.

The last time I rode Amtrak was decades ago from Seattle to St. Paul (which required two nights in a sleeper car). Although this trip would be much shorter, I decided to think of it as “travel” anyway and make the kinds of sketches and journal entries I would if I were in Europe or Japan. Somehow I observe more when I believe I am traveling!

Antonella, Kate, Loretta and me at Centralia Station

Even while grumbling that the ride was too rough for sketching and the view was uninspiring, we all sketched on the way there anyway. I chose a man sitting in “the Amtrak Bistro” (also known as snack bar) that I could barely see through the frosted door.

9/5/18 Centralia Art Park

In less than two hours, we arrived in Centralia and explored the town. Three of us were immediately attracted to a colorful corner filled with sculptures. As we sketched, Rebecca Staebler, owner of Hubbub, came to chat with us, and we learned that she had curated the Art Park. In fact, she herself had painted the Mondrian-inspired utility box that appears in the corner of my sketch.

Mondrian-inspired utility box

Kate had a mission at the King Agriculture Museum, and I was torn because I knew it was full of tractors and other equipment that I would have enjoyed sketching. But the day turned out beautiful, and I knew our summer could end any minute, so I decided to stay outdoors. A number of interesting buildings caught my attention, but the neon butterfly sign at the Shanghai Café was unbeatable.

 

9/5/18 Shanghai Cafe

The plan was to meet for lunch at McMenamins Olympic Club Hotel, Café and Theatre. Since I had to leave right after lunch (the others caught a later train home), I decided I’d record as much of the venue as I could in the montage style that Michele Cooper teaches in her Visual Journaling workshop. I arrived at the Olympic Club a few minutes early so that I could start the page with a lamp post outside and the venue’s neon sign.

Inside the ladies' room

Inside, the Club is a visual feast of eclectic antiques and unusual décor. One wall in the women’s room is covered with a collection of faucets and other fixtures. When I used the facilities, I took a couple minutes to put a faucet in another corner of the montage.

As you know, I generally don’t sketch if there’s food in front of me – especially if the food is McMenamins’ famous mac ‘n’ cheese accompanied by an Irish stout. But since my time was short, I carried on a personal drink & eat & draw while capturing a couple of the many antique light fixtures all around us (plus Loretta and Kate).

Yummm. . . 

9/5/18 McMenamins Olympic Cafe montage 

9/5/18 Loretta and Kate

After a quick throwdown selfie, I was off to catch my train.

 The largest windows on the Amtrak Cascades are in the “Bistro” car, so when we started the part of the trip that hugs the Puget Sound shoreline, I went in for a cup of coffee to enjoy the water view. I really did feel like I was traveling somewhere more exotic, and I jotted observations of the day in my “travel journal.”

Tacoma Narrows Bridge

King Street Station from the platform

Anderson School Greenery

 

7/28/21 McMenamins Anderson School patio

The green oasis of McMenamins Anderson School turned out to be a challenging but rewarding opportunity to experiment with a primary triad again. USk Seattle has met at Anderson a couple of times now since the historic school building was turned into a hotel by the McMenamins chain. Both times, I shied away from the forest of foliage surrounding the large central dining patio. On Wednesday, however, when I met up with Roy and Kate there, the cool, dense shade was too inviting to resist. I decided to take on all that greenery head-on. I even opened up a full spread – something I rarely do anymore – to go big.

In retrospect, I wish I had spent more time making the shaded foreground foliage darker. I’m also still working on the balance between Lemon Yellow and Phthalocyanine Blue to get the green values I want, and I went a little easy on the intense Purplish Red, which tends to take over. Otherwise, though, I had fun working with this Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle primary triad again (the same one I had tried recently in the backyard).

Waiting for our lunch table was an ideal time for sketchwaiting.

Another mini sketch outing!

Amtrak to Centralia

 

We completed three Haiku Exquisite Corpses on the train ride to Centralia. The haiku read as follows (from left): "The universe flows on/Farms and rivers, trees and houses swim past./What gift awaits me?"
"We rock and roll southward/Shakes and bumps the train ride goes/Rolling through time and space."
"Autumn trees pass by/Universe of many faces/Our destination is clear; our future is not."

About 90 miles south of Seattle, Centralia is a charming town with historic buildings and quirky shops. Years ago, a small group of sketchers made an excursion out of it by taking the Amtrak down. I felt like doing that again, and this time I invited Roy and Mary Jean to join me. Neither had ever been to Centralia, let alone taken the train there; that made the excursion seem fresh again.

Our day began at King Street Station in Seattle, where we all arrived early enough to sketch inside the station before our train. Ever since we turned the clocks back, and the days suddenly got drastically shorter, I’ve been thinking about sketching nocturnes – one of very few benefits of the Big Dark. (The workshop I took last month using white pencil on black paper also helped put me in the mood.) I wasn’t quite ready for black during the day, so I chose a dark maroon-colored Uglybook to get into the nocturne mood. It turned out to be just right for sketching a capital at the top of a column and some globe lights inside the elegant station (below, left). 

Left: King Street Station details; right: light fixtures at McMenamins Olympic Club

I also sketched a few people in the waiting area (below, right).

(All day, I hopped back and forth between the maroon book and my daily-carry green one, which means the pages are out of sequence in relation to my story. I’ll try to tell my story in chronological order, but you’ll have to look back and forth to see the corresponding sketches. This is a drawback of using multiple sketchbooks that I’ve learned to live with, though it’s inconvenient at times like this.)

Hand of a light rail rider on my way downtown and King Street Station passengers.

With a nearly two-hour train ride to Centralia, we had plenty of time to sketch on board. Sitting in the lounge area where we could face each other over a table, we played our favorite art game: Exquisite Corpse! Roy has been interested in writing/drawing haiku comics lately, which gave me an idea for adding a twist to our game: After drawing each portion of a corpse, we wrote one line of haiku that did or did not have to relate to whatever we drew. If you recall the rules of exquisite corpse, each participant continues drawing a figure without seeing what the previous artist has started. Similarly, we couldn’t see the line(s) of the haiku that came before, so we had to trust the stream of consciousness that would surely result, both visually and poetically.

The reveals were amazing (top of post)! We were stunned by how beautifully the words, ideas and images flowed, despite being made without seeing what came before. Making our corpses was probably the part of the day I enjoyed most with my creative friends!

The first thing we did once we reached Centralia was head for lunch at McMenamins Olympic Club restaurant (part of the hotel of the same name). I knew from previous visits that the restaurant is full of fun décor to sketch. I liked the way the page of lamp fixtures looked next to the page I had sketched at King Street Station.

After lunch, we walked around sketching in town, which is quite small. I focused on the cool, old sign at the Fox Theatre first, then found a lamp post to sketch in my nocturne book (both below).

Fox Theatre, Centralia

Centralia street lamp

To finish off our afternoon in Centralia, we went looking for dessert. When I asked the server at Dawn’s Delectable Desserts if they offered affogato, he didn’t know what it was. I saw that they offered both ice cream and espresso, so I described it. After receiving manager approval and learning how to ring up my unconventional request, all three of us were happily served affogatos (and the whole staff learned how to make them). My job there was done!

A sleepy train passenger and Dawn's Delectable Desserts (out of sequence in this spread because I thought I would have more to sketch at the cafe to fill the left page, but we didn't have much time before it closed).

After closing down Dawn’s at 3, we waited for our train at the historic Centralia Station (built in 1912), where I found another lamp and an architectural detail to sketch in my nocturne book (below).    

Centralia Station details

An entirely fun day with good friends!

The excursion was a birthday celebration for me, and Roy and MJ both surprised me with sketches they had made! Thanks for making my birthday special!

Sketchwaiting

6/24/21 Green Lake neighborhood

I’ve found myself doing more sketchwaiting than usual lately (maybe simply because I’m doing more lately). Since my intention is always to arrive a bit early for classes, several of these were done while waiting for classmates to arrive at the various parks where Kristin Frost’s class met last month. Most of those were unfinished at the point that I stopped, which I like: Leaving a sketch incomplete tells part of the story.

Other times, I filled moments while the spouse guy was in the men’s room, while waiting for meals to arrive, or while standing in line for fresh tomatoes at the farmers’ market. I really don’t remember how I used to fill idle moments like these before I started sketching, but I’m certain it wasn’t as much fun.

6/16/21 Cafe Arta patron

6/25/21 downtown Seattle from Maple Leaf Park

7/9/21 Volunteer Park

7/16/21 Kubota Garden

7/23/21 Green Lake neighborhood

8/2/21 McMenamins Anderson School

6/26/21 tomato line

7/28/21 McMenamins Anderson School