Vort daglige brødPoulsbo, WA

Poulsbo, WA sketch by Chandler O'Leary

Like the town of Solvang in California, there’s a Scandinavian town in my neck of the woods, too. Except in contrast to Solvang, I love Poulsbo. Even though it’s a bit of a tourist trap, Poulsbo feels more humble, more down-home, more real. Its Norwegian roots run deep—I have even heard Norwegian spoken on the street there.

The best part of Poulsbo is Sluy’s Bakery. The place isn’t strictly Norwegian (you’ll find German and American treats there, too), but they know their Scandinavian pastries and have plenty of Norwegian delights to choose from. And while I don’t have any Norwegian ancestry myself, I didn’t live in both Minnesota and North Dakota for nothing. So Sluy’s has become a regular stop for me whenever I find myself on that side of the Sound and need a lefse fix.

Poulsbo, WA sketch by Chandler O'Leary

Since today is St. Olaf’s Day in Norway, I figured that might be a good excuse to go out in search of a little eplekake.

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Comments (3)

  1. Necia

    I love your drawings! I’m curious whether you adjust the colors digitally after scanning them in; many of them almost have an Instagram filter feel (yellow and cyan), but maybe that’s just your palette and paper color. It’s a very nice palette, in any case!

    1. Chandler O'Leary Post author

      Thanks, Necia! I don’t really monkey with my scans except to remove specks of dust or other matter that might have gotten on the scanner bed. I don’t alter the colors in Photoshop unless I end up with a really bad scan—and in that case I only alter to make the scan match the original. A lot of my color has to do with what raw materials are in my paintbox, and a lot has to do with the paper in those Moleskine sketchbooks, which tends to dull the color quite a bit.

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