Sketched Tuesday, Feb. 1

During a talk to journalism students at Seattle University, I explained how I never use photographs as a reference for my drawings. Sketching from photographs has no appeal to me. The point of drawing on location is being in the environment, capturing what you see, and enjoying the process of making a picture from life.

However, sometimes I do give myself the license of touching up the color later. Or, like in this case, even doing all the color afterwards. It's not my preference, but sometimes I just don't have the time to do all the color on location.

When that happens, I try to add the washes as soon as I can. It's best not to let more than an hour of time go by between your ink drawing done on the spot (above) and your washes of watercolor added in the comfort of your studio. Otherwise, the mental image of the scene starts to fade and the colors are likely to be off.

The reflecting pool in front of the Chapel of St. Ignatius at Seattle University makes drawing this architectural gem a new experience every time. Wait twenty minutes and the scene could be completely different depending how the light hits the building. As long as I keep visiting SU, I think I will always try to do a sketch of the Chapel of St. Ignatius.

Lamy Safari and watercolor on cardboard cover pocket Moleskine cahier

Sketched Jan. 30, 2012

It may be just a shell of what it once was, the most iconic ferry ever to crisscross Elliott Bay, but the 1930s-era Kalakala hasn't lost all of its character. Not yet.

This week I endured a two-hour paddle -- and a humiliating plunge into Commencement Bay -- to get an up-close look at the historic ferry, which has been moored in an industrial waterway in Tacoma since 2004. Despite the decay and rust, the streamlined vessel -- the only ferry of its kind -- retains its elegant Art Deco styling and much of its personality. I think it could make a great exhibit space along the future viaduct-free Seattle waterfront.

Mark Greengo, a kayaker who generously took a day off work to lead me to the Kalakala, has another idea. If the boat, whose condition is being monitored by the Coast Guard, can't be restored, perhaps it could be sunk and made into an underwater park for divers.

Owner Steve Rodrigues, who's been living in a nearby mobile home for the past five months making improvements and discouraging vandals, is committed to returning the Kalakala to Seattle as a symbol of the city's history. "It's a truly magnificent vessel that should never have gotten to this point," said Rodrigues.

The 60-year-old civil engineer (shown right) is still looking for a buyer willing to preserve the Kalakala. A reported sale for $1 last December didn't go through. Rodrigues said it was under the condition that the buyer promised to save the ferry from the scrap yard, and that promise "never happened."

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It was a relief to know that my main sketchbook was in Greengo's kayak when I lost control of mine. We were on the way back to our launching spot at 5012 Marine View Drive, just about 100 feet from the shoreline, when my kayak tipped over and I took my first plunge ever into the Puget Sound. A smaller sketchbook that I kept with me, however, suffered some water damage because I failed to seal the plastic bag where I carried it. Above you can see the drawings that were in that sketchbook, a 6" x 8" Stillman and Birn wirebound with heavy weight paper.

As for myself, well, I was a bit shocked. But I barely got wet thanks to the dry-suit Greengo had brought for me. Being a kayak instructor, he also knew exactly what to do to help me back onto my boat in very little time. Back on land, I did a sketch of him that I will be posting next week. The guy deserves his own blog entry, don't you think?

What has drawn your attention around Seattle lately? Send me your suggestions of interesting places and people to sketch via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter. Have a great weekend!

Sketched Jan. 30

If you need a kayaking instructor, here's one I'd recommend in a heartbeat. Mark Greengo, a Seattle native and longtime kayaker, took a day off work last week to lead me to the Kalakala ferry. The historic ship has been moored on a Tacoma waterway since 2004 and its owner is still looking for a buyer willing to restore it.

Greengo, a member of the Boeing Employees Whitewater & Touring club (BEWET), came fully prepared with all the gear I needed for the kayaking excursion: life-jacket, dry-suit, food supplies, you name it.

His precautions paid off. When my kayak tipped over and I fell into the water, I knew I would be OK. Thanks to the dry-suit, all my clothes kept dry. And thanks to Greengo's calm demeanor and skills, I was able to get back onto my kayak safely in very little time.

Next time you are kayaking in the area, you may easily spot Greengo for his zebra-themed boat. He said he loves zebras and owns a ton of things with zebra patterns. Even the license plate on his Volkswagen Golf says ZEBRA.

Thank you, Mister Zebra!

Sketched Feb. 7, 2012

"We don't celebrate Valentine's Day in Spain."

I've used that excuse on my wife for the 12 Februarys we've been together. But this year, with our 10th wedding anniversary fast approaching, I decided to finally do something about my lousy behavior.

I went to Theo Chocolate well ahead of time so I would have something to show for myself next Tuesday. Since it opened in 2006, the organic chocolate manufacturer has become a national brand while remaining one of the sweetest spots in Fremont.

Not only did I find a gift, I was treated to a chocolate-factory tour and showered with chocolate facts. Roaster Elric McCoy explained he was using this 1930s German machine to "cook the best flavor out of the beans," and then handed me some to try. They tasted nutty, and I even used some to add color to this sketch.

In the confection kitchen, I drew artisan chocolatiers decorating confections by hand, and sampled the final product -- lavender jalapeño caramel! It was so spicy, my wife is sure to find that one worth the wait.

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Here are more drawings from my visit to Theo Chocolate.

They call it factory for a reason. Interesting contraptions are used in the process of transforming cacao beans into the little masterpieces that you find in a box of chocolate. You've seen that giant roaster above. Now, look at this conveyor belt. Here the confections go through a curtain of liquid chocolate and into a cooling tunnel. I sketched specialty production assistants Jesse Chappelle and Marianne Robertson as they sprinkled each confection with candied corn flour. Robertson said they have just about a second to complete each piece.

From this vantage point, you can see Steve Popplewell carefully dropping the confections onto the conveyor belt. His partner during this shift was Anna Ebage. She said it's really rewarding to create a product that everybody enjoys.

Next to the confection kitchen is a packing room. That's where that cooling tunnel ended and where I met Sarah Benner. She said the confections stay in the tunnel for about 6 minutes. As she picks them out, she checks every single one to make sure it's not defective. As I stood sketching for about 10 minutes, one came out with a little hole. Benner handed it to me to eat, which I did, but not before sketching it first!

Production is stepping up as Valentine's Day approaches, but everyone said it's still not as busy as around the Christmas holidays. The pace at the packing room, however, seemed pretty fast to me. Every time I lifted my eyes from my sketchbook many more rows of confections had been lined up on the trays.

I couldn't leave Theo without sketching their building. The old brick warehouse was just as delightfully sketchable as everything inside.

What has drawn your attention around Seattle lately? Send me your suggestions of interesting places and people to sketch via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter. Have a great weekend!

Sketched Feb. 14, 2012

Ugly Sodo? Mike Peringer didn't like that passing reference from one of my earlier columns. No surprise, as he is the president of the Sodo Business Association and proud of what's going on in his part of town, including the prospect of a new NBA arena.

Peringer said Sodo has been transforming for a few years, with more retail and commercial enterprises altering the once-industrial landscape. A trapeze arts company now occupies a warehouse where boiler plates were made. On First Avenue South, restored buildings from the 1920s have become event halls and home-improvement stores.

One of those stores occupies this 1918 warehouse across from the Starbucks headquarters. Eight years ago, the charming old woodshed was on the verge of demolition, as it stood on the path of a monorail line that voters eventually rejected. Looking past its tacky signage, I realized these few remaining old buildings are where Sodo's soul and beauty lie.

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Click on the sketches to see larger versions

As he drove me around the district, Peringer pointed to this foundry, Northwest Castings, as an example of the few remaining manufacturing businesses that have been in Sodo for a long time. When I walked around here later in the afternoon, the jersey barriers alongside the future Spokane Viaduct westbound on and -off ramp provided good protection from the traffic as I drew this view from 1st Avenue South.

Just two blocks north from Northwest Castings I found two other historic Sodo locations. Sodo Park (left), which dates from 1907, and the K. R. Trigger building, from 1923, rent their restored spaces for meetings and events. My quick sketches don't do justice to the charming character of these gems from Seattle's industrial past. A good reason to come back for more sketches.

I couldn't leave Sodo without exploring the area where a proposed NBA arena could soon be built. Here I chatted with the owners of El Rey del Taco II, María González and Teresa de la Rosa. They said they chose this location for their truck because its closed to Safeco Field and they are looking forward to the baseball season to start and bring in more customers. They recommend their homemade tamales and churros con champurrado. I'll have to try those next time.

Your community: What draws you in? This is one of an occasional series where I explore Seattle-area communities following readers' suggestions. I invite you contact me via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter. Have a great weekend!

Every now and then I get to take a break from producing a column for Saturday's print edition of the newspaper. That gives me some extra time to focus on longer term projects, such as a bigger-than-usual sketch-story coming up in March (Stay tuned for that!). But even if there's no Sketcher in the paper this week, here are a few pages from my everyday pocket sketchbook for my loyal web readers. I hope you like them.

I posted a photo of this sketch on my Facebook page right after I did the line art. I sketched from the car while my kids played their Nintendo DS games on the back seats and my wife picked up some things at the store. On Facebook, I asked readers if I should add color. Most said the sketch was fine in black and white and didn't need color at all. I agreed with that, but I went ahead and added color to it anyway. Sorry, guys, I shouldn't ask if I don't plan to follow the advice, right?

I had a good reason to add color, though. I used the sketch to show a group of eighth-graders how to work with watercolors. The demonstration was part of a two-part class I taught at an elementary school in Edmonds the last two Fridays. During the first session, I talked about creating quick line sketches, as the one you see on the left page above. The second session focused on color, and that's when I colored the Safeway sketch and the portrait of one of the students that also appears above.

A sketch of fellow bus commuters done with my regular handy-dandy Lamy Safari fountain pen.

And last, a pencil sketch drawn during one of the many exciting basketball games my son has been playing on Saturday morning. The season is over now but the break from sports activities won't last. Little league is just around the corner, which will give me another opportunity to indulge in sketching that is not subject to deadlines.

What has drawn your attention around Seattle lately? Send me your suggestions of interesting places and people to sketch via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter. Have a great weekend!

In today's Seattle Times, reporter Jack Broom writes an interesting story about Pete Bevis, the artist who brought the aging Kalakala ferry from Alaska back to Seattle in the late 1990s. You may remember I sketched the ferry and its current owner a few weeks ago, so I was immediately drawn to the report.

It focuses on Bevis's decision to sell the Fremont Fine Arts Foundry he started more than 30 years ago and leave town, which is too bad for Fremont, but that's another story. The fact that caught my attention was the mention of a replica of the Kalakala that may end up being turned into a food truck. That would be cool, huh? Watch out, Maximus Minimus!

Here's an excerpt from the story:

Parked in the middle of the foundry is another project Bevis was unable to complete, a 28-foot-long "baby Kalakala" built on the chassis of a Winnebago.

Bevis said he had intended to have the replica available to drive around, stimulating donations for a Kalakala ferry restoration."

Now, though, the vehicle will go with the building, to the foundry's new owners. Agarwal said he hopes it can be transformed into a food truck.

Reading about this "baby Kalakala," also prompted me to search for these drawings. As you can imagine, I don't publish every drawing I make on this blog -- it often takes me several bad drawings, or what I call "false starts," to make a drawing I like. If I feel that the proportions or the composition aren't right, I just abandon the sketch and start a new one. That's what happened when I was drawing these from Mark Greengo's kayak. You could call them "unfinished baby Kalakala's."

Sketched Feb. 27, 2012

Most of us look forward to our to-do lists getting shorter when we retire. But for Peggy Burns, a trained mathematician, former technical writer and self-described "lists" person from northeast Seattle, retirement has brought one heck of a long goal.

You see, Burns has plans to walk every single street within Seattle's city limits. Since June 2010, she has logged 1,150 miles and estimates she has 1,850 more to go.

"You can find spectacular views and interesting vibes ... It's kind of like being a tourist in your own city," Burns said as we strolled the Central District, where we found an eclectic mix: Ethiopian restaurants, P-patches, a Muslim school, garden sculptures and street murals like this one of Martin Luther King Jr.

And Burns' objective doesn't end with the walks. Back at home, she researches the places she's visited and posts observations and photos on a blog (walkingseattle.blogspot.com), allowing her to check another goal off her list: "Keep up with technology."

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After we finished the 3.5 mile walk, I retraced our steps and sketched a few of the places that caught Burns' attention. Make sure to look at the detailed report she has already posted on her blog, which is a real treasure of information on the many neighborhoods she's walked so far -- most of north Seattle and Capitol Hill, downtown and parts of the Central District.

This garden sculpture of a vigilant rabbit was the first thing Burns photographed with her Sony Cybershot when we started our walk at East Columbia Street and 29th Avenue. It's right across from a pocket park known as Nora's Woods.

The alley-facing wall of this boarded-up business on East Cherry Street hid an striking mural depicting a battle between a giant squid and a whale. Thanks to Burns' research, I now know that it was painted by Karl Addison and Pixel.Tron.

"Walking you see so much more than if you drive," said Burns, who's fond of photographing the small details that you'd never notice from behind the steering-wheel of your car, like this cool dragon sculpture we found on 23rd Avenue.

Our walk also took us through nice and quiet residential streets. On 27th Avenue, this house caught the attention of Burns' husband, Jim, who had also tagged along for the walk. The couple, who moved from New York City 34 years ago, said they keep an eye out for neighborhoods where one of their daughters may like to buy a house in a few years.

What has drawn your attention around Seattle lately? Send me your suggestions of interesting places and people to sketch via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter. Have a great weekend!

"Do you walk and sketch at the same time?"

When Peggy Burns' husband, Jim, asked me that question last week, I said no way. Who could do that? But I took his words as a challenge anyway. On my mental "to-do list" for the walk: To draw a sketch that would show Peggy Burns taking all those cool photographs she puts on her blog, Walking Seattle Neighborhoods, after each city excursion. (See my last column, A tourist in her own city.)

To complete the drawing, I kept my sketchbook open to the same page during the entire walk. Every time Peggy Burns stopped to take a photo, I positioned myself in a way that would give me the same vantage point. Then I would try to retain as much visual information as possible, adding lines to the drawing along the way.

After 8 or 10 bursts of sketching -- face profile, hat, left hand, right hand, left arm, right arm, coat, legs and feet -- the drawing was finished, minus the color, which I added later. (A benefit of adding color to a line drawing is that you can compensate for your mistakes. In the colored version, you'll notice that my misfired strokes to draw Peggy's right foot become less noticeable thanks to the color.)

I was gladly surprised with the resulting sketch and have to thank Peggy Burns' husband for asking me if sketching while walking is possible. Now I know it is!

Uniball Vision pen and watercolor on 11"x14" wirebound Stillman and Birn sketchbook, Alpha Series

Sketched Feb. 21, 2012

I was recently a guest on Margaret Larson's morning TV show New Day Northwest, which airs on King 5 at 11 a.m. every weekday.

The reason for the appearance was to talk about my book, The Art of Urban Sketching, which was just published by Quarry Books last month. Joining me on the set was one of the book contributors, Gail Wong, a local architect, teacher and coordinator of the Seattle Urban Sketchers group. Other local urban sketchers joined the audience and sketched during the show.

Unlike I did on a previous New Day Northwest appearance, where I sketched during the interview, this time I only opened my sketchbook while waiting in the "green room." That's what TV and showbiz folks call the space where guests and performers wait before being on stage. The name apparently derives from the color usually chosen for these rooms in the past, according to Wikipedia.

In my green room sketch, you may recognize KING 5 news anchor Dennis Bounds, who appeared on the show to promote the 14th Annual Microsoft Hockey Challenge, a fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House Charities.

The pocket sketchbook always comes in handy during wait times.

Sketched Jan. 23, 24 and Feb. 13

The Seattle Monorail never became what its creators intended 50 years ago. After the World's Fair, it was meant to be either expanded or dismantled; the concrete columns were bolted to Fifth Avenue so they could be easily removed.

In a way, it was a failed project. But consider the lives touched by the 1.2 mile ride between downtown and Seattle Center. Think of the fun it brings to nearly 2 million tourists every year and to those who commute on it every day. And think of what it means to the people who work there.

For Abraham Abei, David Guet and Joseph Deng, all in their early 30s, the monorail has provided jobs and a path to education -- tuition assistance is a perk of working for Seattle Monorail Services. These three are among the thousands of "Lost Boys of Sudan" who escaped the atrocities of their country's civil war in the late '80s. Their reactions to the monorail when they first saw it: "I thought it would fall off," said Deng. And now: "It's the best thing I ever had," said Abei.

Jayme Gustilo, 61, a cashier and a 23-year monorail veteran, said: So what if a ride on the monorail doesn't take you very far; "The journey is more important than the destination."

Originally from Minnesota, Eno Yliniemi, 34, came to Seattle to do a Ph.D. in biomechanics, thinking she'd graduate to a job specializing in equipment to treat neck injuries. Instead, a temporary consulting job to help assess the monorail's mechanical problems in the mid 2000s led to her current job as chief systems engineer for Seattle Monorail Services.

General Manager Thom Ditty credits her work supervising an overhaul of the trains in 2008 with saving the monorail when everyone thought it was doomed following a fire in 2004 and a crash in 2005. Yliniemi, however, takes the compliment in stride. She attributes the monorail's longevity to flawless design by German builder Alweg. She said she has yet to find an error when she browses through copies of the original blueprints.

Bill Humphreys, 65, above and below, calls the monorail "a bus and a train combined." It's powered by electricity, but it runs on 64 tires. Sixteen tractor-trailer size "load tires" go on top of the rail and 24 run sideways on each side, guiding the trains along the track. Humphreys, a native of Texas, said he's worked for the monorail for 12 years.

The magic of the monorail is hidden under its shiny bumpers. Technician Ryan Menor was doing routine maintenance of the brake system while I drew this sketch, where you can see one of the tires that runs perpendicular to the concrete beam.

I met Russell Noe inside a windowless office at the monorail's Seattle Center station. To celebrate the monorail's birthday, replicas of the original ALWEG signs have been created and now grace both trains. He held one for a few minutes so I could do my sketch.

Driver Abraham Abei, 31, enjoys meeting tourists from all over the world and when the kids run to sit across from him in the front of the monorail. "I'll let them play the horn and they love it."

After four years of daily monorail commute Char Bagley, 44, said the drivers and cashiers have become family. "They're always smiling. They're always fun. You don't get that very often."

David Guet, 31, worked at the Space Needle and at the airport before joining the Monorail full-time last year.

Like his colleagues Guet and Abei, Joseph Deng, 33, also came to Seattle as a "Lost Boy of Sudan," he told me during one of his late shifts as a cashier at the Westlake Center station. He loves his job at the Monorail because "they treat their employees like their own kids."

"It's like a big family," said Deng, who is studying international relations at South Seattle Community College.

Operations supervisor Milete Haile makes sure the monorail trains run on schedule and supervises the crew of drivers and cashiers. The monorail makes about 75 round trips every day.

"Have you ever thought of expanding it?" "How does it get to airport?"

The things tourists ask monorail employees like Gustilo may sound funny to locals who lived through five votes on the monorail's future. But they speak of that potential that never materialized.

Gustilo said the monorail represents hopes, dreams and regrets. "It's a reminder of our imagination, our ingenuity ... of our own ability to create new ways of mass transportation."

World's Fair Anniversary
I plan to do occasional posts related to the World's Fair 50th anniversary over the next six months. I invite you to send me your suggestions of places and people to sketch via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter.

More Seattle Times coverage of the 50th anniversary at seattletimes.com/worldsfair.

Sketched March 6, 2012

The ghostly doorway of the half-demolished Alfaretta apartments hides the massive ruins of what used to be a typical building on First Hill, a five-story apartment house built in 1918.

How did it come to this? Neighbors told me plans to build condos fell through during the 2008 financial crisis and demolition came to a halt.

Now work may resume with the construction of a proposed 31-story high-rise that would become the tallest building to date on First Hill and among the tallest residential towers in the city.

The project would clear the Seneca Street eyesore, add a new access to the adjacent Freeway Park and bring more density to quiet "Pill Hill," but it worries some neighbors, who say a 300-foot tower is of out of scale for the neighborhood.

Early First Hill residents who lived to see five-story buildings like the Alfaretta dwarf their mansions probably felt the same way. The Stimson-Green house, below, is one of a handful of those residences that has survived to stand amid the high-rises.

What has drawn your attention around Seattle lately? Send me your suggestions of interesting places and people to sketch via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter. Have a great weekend!

Sketched, March 13, 2012

When the South Lake Union streetcar opened in late 2007, I wondered who would ride those brightly colored cars.The dormant neighborhood of warehouses and light industry didn't strike me as a destination. But since Amazon opened its campus here, I've seen more people riding the 1.3-mile line.

Amazon employee Guhan Venkatesan, who lives in Sammamish, said the streetcar is really convenient to reach his office after busing downtown. He admitted he could sometimes walk instead, "but I would have to walk very briskly."

Venkatesan wasn't the only Eastside commuter I met on the streetcar.

Joe Schulman (left), a young fellow wearing a stylish hat and reading on a Kindle, commutes from Bellevue by bus and takes the streetcar at the Westlake Hub. His stop arrived before I could ask him many questions, but he later sent me an email with his feedback. He wrote that the streetcar is only practical if he gets lucky and catches one. Otherwise it takes him less time to walk the mile than it does to wait and ride. But "if it ran twice as frequently then I would never consider walking," he wrote.

Lindsay Stratton (below, left) a biologist at Fred Hutchinson, also takes a bus from Bellevue to downtwon before hopping on one of the streetcars. She said she appreciates the service, especially on rainy days, and that it gives the city a European vibe. "It looks more like Amsterdam," she said.

The current scene in South Lake Union makes it easier to picture more streetcars cruising through another employment hub, First Hill, in the spring of 2014. Construction of that line between Pioneer Square and Capitol Hill begins next month.

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I visited the streetcar maintenance facility on Fairview Avenue a couple of days after drawing the sketches posted above. Coincidentally, the same purple car I had drawn while holding my umbrella at the Westlake Hub was now parked indoors for a routine inspection.

Operations chief Dale Lewis shared more technical facts than I could retain as I quickly outlined this sketch under the front bogie of the parked car. But a few things he said stuck with me, like the fact that these cars came from the Czech Republic. Lewis said that Czech engineers used to be the go-to technicians for the streetcar lines of all former Soviet countries and the central European nation has become a leading manufacturer.

Lewis worked with several Czech engineers here during the first years of operation. He said a team of two or three were always on deck during the first two years --while the cars were under warranty-- and they all shared an apartment in Green Lake.

Streetcar maintainer Lou Swan is a 32-year employee of King County Metro, the agency that operates the city-owned line. Streetcars are not new to this veteran mechanic, as he was assigned to the Waterfront Streetcar in the early 2000s.

Streetcar operator John Nolan told me about some of the challenges of driving the 60-foot long cars through busy traffic and distracted pedestrians who pay more attention to their cellphones than to the street. Since steering away is not an option, he has to do a lot of honking and ringing to alert them.

"People take it the wrong way, but I just don't want to hit them," he told me as he was getting ready to turn the car on and drive down Westlake Avenue.

What has drawn your attention around Seattle lately? Send me your suggestions of interesting places and people to sketch via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter. Have a great weekend!

Sketched March 20, 2012

I often try to capture the poetry of the urban landscape with my pen, but this is the first time I've come across actual poems on the streets.

On Capitol Hill's Aloha Street, I found Mary Kollar's poetry box, which she fills each month with a timely poem. She started the ritual in 2004 as a protest against presidential candidates who were butchering "the beauty of the English language."

Many passers-by pick up the poem, she said, like the jogger who stops to read it to her mom over the phone every month, or the boy who reads it aloud to his dad after school.

Kollar's box has also inspired other poetry shrines. The biggest may be Gregory Harrop's "poem bench" in Wallingford, where you can "Sit a while, read a poem. If you like it, take one home. If you don't, that's O.K. There will be another one on Monday."

Happy National Poetry Month!

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Kollar also mentioned this poetry box on 20th Avenue East and East Aloha Street. She said it belongs to Guy Holliday, a local poet who shares his own writings.

On Greenwood Avenue North and North 82nd Street I found this psychedelic mail box that invites passers-by to take a free poem and "S M ILE."

What has drawn your attention around Seattle lately? Send me your suggestions of interesting places and people to sketch via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter. Have a great weekend!

A common question I'm often asked about my work method is whether I use pencil or draw directly in ink.

For the most part, I stay away from pencil --unless I'm doing a pencil sketch-- for several reasons. Inking previously drawn pencil outlines can diminish the feeling of freshness and spontaneity that makes sketches interesting. The added step of penciling before inking also makes the process longer. What I normally sketch in 20 or 25 minutes would take me 45 minutes to an hour, including coloring, if I penciled first.

But in some cases I use pencil to block out the main elements of a composition. Pencil comes in handy to mark the horizon line and vanishing points when you are drawing wide open spaces and want to get the perspective right. That was the case with the drawing of Gregory Harrop's poem bench, or with my lead sketch of the streetcar on this other story. In such cases, if the perspective isn't fairly accurate, the drawings start to fall apart.

I like to keep the lines light and not overdoing them, using a 2B pencil. Some sketchers erase them before inking --a kneaded eraser won't damage the paper--, but I mostly let the pencil marks be part of the final drawing. You may call that a "transparent" approach to sketching, where no tricks are hidden to the viewer's eye!

Sketching results by artists who use pencil before inking vary greatly. That's a good thing about sketching. Whatever method you use, your unique style will still come through. For example, just compare the work of Thomas Thorspecken with the work of Gérard Michel. Both start their sketches with some pencil outlines, yet their final results are completely different.

Sketched April 10, 2012

Oh, spring at the U-Dub!

The best thing about it is that you don't have to pay tuition to enjoy it. Anyone can wander through campus, and there's much more to see than the striking, but fleeting cherry blossoms in the Quad.

This year, with the UW celebrating its 150th Anniversary ("HuskyFest" event wraps up Saturday), it was fitting that I discovered the Sylvan Grove Theater, home to some of the oldest-standing pieces of Seattle architecture: four, 24-foot Ionic columns that belonged to the original university building downtown.

The lush garden space, tucked between the Rainier Vista corridor and the Paul G. Allen Center for Computer Science & Engineering, is so secluded even some students miss it. Emilia Ptak, a recent graduate relaxing on a bench with a friend, didn't find it until her third or fourth year.

Unlike the Quad, she said, it's a quiet spot to concentrate and study.

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Other sketches from my stroll through campus:

Block letters are so collegiate. A plaque by this giant "W" says the sign was donated by the class of 1960.

Denny Hall is the first university building to open on the current campus, back in 1895. As I started to sketch, I could hear a tour guide address his group. "This is where we come from," he said, pointing to the castle-like building. "And this is where we are going," pointing to the state-of-the-art architecture of Paccar Hall to the east. Paccar Hall is home to the Michael G. Foster School of Business.

I think Emilia Ptak had a point when she told me that the Quad is better for people watching than studying. On the sunny day I visited, the sensory overload was such that I can't imagine anyone being able to concentrate there.

I sat on the steps of the Suzzallo Library building to sketch this view. Students crisscrossed the square in all directions on their way to class. Others stood under blue-covered tents, holding balloons and handing out fliers. When I finished my sketch, I walked over to the other side of the square to order a pulled-pork sandwich from a food truck, then sat on the benches at the center of the square to eat and remember my own college days at another beautiful campus, the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain.

What has drawn your attention around Seattle lately? Send me your suggestions of interesting places and people to sketch via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter. Have a great weekend!

Sketched May 8 and 9, 2012

Dale Chihuly's bright and colorful glass artwork, usually displayed in temporary exhibits around the world, has found a permanent home at Seattle Center, where the "Chihuly Garden and Glass" exhibition opens Monday.

I've been aware of Chihuly's glass art since moving to the area six years ago, but I didn't really know what to make of it. Like with any tangible creation, nothing compares to seeing it in real life to begin understanding what the artist is trying to do.

I was recently allowed to roam the exhibition while glass spires were still being unboxed and cleaners were mopping the floor.

As I wandered around, I remembered the Fun Forest rides that I sketched here just two years ago. Everything looks so different now -- and also quieter.

The giant outdoor sculptures in the garden, even if only partially visible to people outside the enclosed space, add an exhuberant touch of color to a city that can often feel so gray.

One of them is a radiant sun that towers over a mound of black mondo grass. It brought to mind flashes of Joan Miró's surrealist shapes and colors. The Catalan painter and sculptor wasn't a favorite for me growing up in Barcelona but I later came to appreciate his work. Perhaps Chihuly will also grow on me over time?

The sun sculpture, which is 16-feet in diameter, was definitely my favorite among everything I saw. There is something magnetic about it that pulls you in. People outside the tree fence surrounding the garden were raising their cameras to photograph it. I even heard someone shout: "How do you get in there?"

In case you have the same question, here's the answer: Tickets are $19 for adults, $12 for ages 4 to 12, $17 for seniors and $15 for adult King County residents.

Here are more drawings from my visit to give you an idea of what to expect:

The exhibition centerpiece is the glass house that connects the pavilion galleries with the outdoor gardens. What looks to me like thousands of red and yellow glass parasols hang from the ceiling and filter multicolored light into the room. As I knelt down to draw, some of my watercolors ended up making a mess on the floor. How timely, I thought, since I was sketching the cleaning crew in action.

Of all the wildly-shaped glass art that peppers the garden, I found the spheres particularly eye-catching. They mirror the looming Space Needle behind you, creating an image everyone will want to photograph -- or even sketch.

A special treat from my early look at the galleries was watching how the glass sculptures are assembled. Chihuly's staffers had to tie each piece individually to a metal frame, carefully positioning them to avoid gaps that would reveal the underlying structure. This chandelier previously hung over the canals of Venice, the city regarded as the European cradle of glassmaking.

Chihuly's exhibit offers a walk-through of his entire career. Not being that familiar with his work, I appreciated the gallery that displays early works inspired by hand-woven Northwest Indian baskets.

This giant "Sea Life" sculpture stands out against the dark gallery walls, painted in what an exhibition representative described as "Chihuly Gray." The Tacoma native, I was also told, has found inspiration from seaforms since combing the beaches of the Puget Sound as a kid.

Chihuly's affinity with water themes is also present in this display, a wooden boat loaded with glass sculptures that reminded me of algae growing under the sea.

Chihuly's love for glass is unquestionable, but who knew that he collected all sorts of stuff? Accordions, old cameras, ceramic dogs, bottlecap openers and other vintage items are on display at the exhibition's restaurant, the Collections Café.

I spotted a familiar Spanish brand among the couple of hundred bottlecap openers on display in a vitrine at the entrance of the cafe. If my memory doesn't fail me, the first beer I ever had was a Cruzcampo. I wonder if Chihuly actually used the opener to try one. They are good.

The vintage television sets at the exhibition store also seemed out of place until I was told they belong to Chihuly's personal collection. The staff told me they will play videos about the artist.

What has drawn your attention around Seattle lately? Send me your suggestions of interesting places and people to sketch via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter. Have a great weekend!

Sketched May 6, 2012

Every time I go to Safeco Field my appreciation for baseball and what the players do goes up a notch. You could say I'm making up for all those years when baseball didn't even register with me, having grown up in soccer-crazy Spain.

A few weeks ago, I went to see the Mariners on a Little League Day, when kids and their families are allowed to walk around the field before the game starts. That was a highlight for me and my family, but not the only one.

Before the game, we found an empty spot on the railing by the bullpen and watched pitchers warming up just a few feet away. From TV, I knew that pitchers can throw the ball more than 90 miles per hour, but getting this close really gives you a sense of their strength. Up close, the ball leaves the pitcher's hand in a blur, and before you know it, lands in the catcher's mitt with a loud 'thwack' that sounds like nothing else I've ever heard.

I think it was just meant to be that I sketched Kevin Millwood. He's been making headlines for his strong starts recently. And just yesterday, at another Little League Day at Safeco, Millwood made my son's day by autographing a ball for him.

Two recent spreads from one of my pocket sketchbooks:

You can draw the Smith Tower with minimal lines and the 1914 skyscraper is still instantly recognizable. I think that's a sign of good architecture. (3-minute sketch. Lamy Safari Fountain pen and splash of watercolor for the sky.) Related: Signs of life in Smith Tower.

The Aspira tower, however, requires more work from the sketcher to make it look somewhat interesting. (Staedler leadholder, HB lead. 10-minute sketch, while waiting for the bus.) Related: Drawing inspiration from the Aspira tower.

Sketched May 31, 2012 [Click image to enlarge]

When I saw the chilling surveillance stills of Wednesday's shooting at Cafe Racer, I immediately recognized the place.

I sat on those bar stools last year to sketch Jim Woodring, a local cartoonist and regular patron who would also hang out here with the "Friends of the Nib" drawing group. It's "a place where your eccentricities would be appreciated," he said.

Woodring took me to Cafe Racer because he thought I'd like the artsy locale, a hub for artists and musicians, and he was right. The cozy space teemed with wit and creativity. Where else could you find a spot like the OBAMA (Official Bad Art Museum of Art) room? And it was the perfect backdrop to draw Woodring's newest cartooning tool, a 7-foot dip pen.

Like many other days, Drew Keriakedes was there, and Woodring introduced me to the easygoing musician. Keriakedes said he played the banjo and told me about his band, God's Favorite Beefcake. "I should come sketch you guys one day," I said.

But the senseless violence that took Drew's life and four others Wednesday means I returned to Cafe Racer to draw a memorial instead.

Woodring told me this week he would always go talk to Drew every time he saw him at the cafe. "I knew him and I loved him," said the cartoonist. "He was such a pleasure to talk to ... always friendly and warm and enthusiastic."

His murder is "cosmically wrong," like John Lennon's death, said Woodring. "It hasn't sunk in yet ... I just can't accept it."