This was a long, hard day of driving, but there was a reward at either end of it: California poppies at the finish, and Morning Glory at the start.
Tag Archives: Pacific Northwest
How do you like your eggs?
Whenever I’m on the road, breakfast is usually the restaurant meal I crave the most (and often at weird, non-breakfast times). And since diners are among my most beloved hangouts, that seems to fit. So this week I’ve put together a bit of a tribute to the humble diner, and will be posting sketches of a few of my favorites.
In the meantime…pass the hashbrowns!
Above the clouds
One of my favorite things about living in the Northwest is how everything seems here seems to exist in its own microcosm. How you can be socked in a gray pall, nothing but pearly fog in every direction—unless you find a tall enough hill to climb. As you near the top, the light changes, sun filtering through in rays, until you reach the top—and find a whole different world waiting.
Living library
I love sketching wildflowers and other plants—but unfortunately, I’m really not great at identifying them. Of course, sketching is an excellent way to cement the information into your brain, but it doesn’t help much when you’re not sure what you’re looking at. I’m not a fan of standing there, juggling sketchbook and guidebook, trying to find one particular yellow flower amongst a huge grid of yellow flower photos (that all look, well, frankly identical to each other, and not at all like what’s in front of me), just to label my drawing correctly.
Enter the National Park Service. Wondering what kind of unusual flower that is? Forgot the name of that cactus? Just look around—nine times out of ten there’ll be a little engraved label nearby. Not near a marked trail? Just look in the little pamphlet the ranger handed you when you arrived! I swear, park rangers are the librarians of the natural world (and since I’m always telling people that librarians and park rangers are the most helpful folks on earth, this seems to fit).
I rely on this so much that when I’m not in a national park (or arboretum, or conservatory), I get frustrated. I mean, how great would it be if every front-yard garden, every school hedgerow, every city park came equipped with tiny interpretive signs?
Because after all, you never know when a sketcher is going to happen by.
12th Night
I’m not really a fan of American football, but I do love seeing (and sketching!) a city transformed by a rare event. And I have to admit, it was pretty hard not to get swept up by all the excitement humming in Seattle’s very bones this weekend. So I’ll go ahead and add my voice to the chorus: Go Hawks!
Travel checklist
I love hanging out with other travel bloggers—sometimes it’s just fun to know I’m not the only one closely studying my surroundings. Last year I took a road trip with my friend Mary-Alice of Dog Jaunt fame (with her lovely pup Chloe in tow). When we arrived at our hotel that day, we both did the whole travel-blogger thing: jotted down notes, snapped off phone photos, made a mental checklist of all the good points. Except the hilarious thing was that we were out to “review” completely different things. Since M-A blogs about traveling with a pet in tow, this was probably what her checklist looked like:
• pet-friendly policies
• clean, accessible rooms
• easy access to walkies outside
You know, things like that. My list of hotel highlights that day?
• squashy chairs for ease of sketching
• big airy lobby with lots of architectural details
• weird door knockers shaped like hands
• even weirder lamps with taloned bird feet
• cabinets containing taxidermy
Because, well, somebody else (besides me) might be looking for those things in a hotel. Right?
Night and day
Speaking of neon signs, this might not be a sketchbook post, but I figured it wasn’t too far off-topic. For those of you who might find yourselves in the Pacific Northwest this year, I’ve got a solo exhibit opening tomorrow, right here on my home turf. The show is called You’ll Like Tacoma, and features 16 new illustrations, depicting electric signs of Tacoma’s past—all arranged as day-and-night diptychs. The opening reception is tomorrow evening, but the show will be up through the end of June. Here are the details:
You’ll Like Tacoma
On display through June 30, 2014
Brooks Dental Studio (yes, it’s a dentist office that doubles as a gallery! How cool is that?!)
732 Broadway, Tacoma, WA 98402
Opening reception Thursday, January 16, 5 to 7 pm
Hope to see you there!
Get a shovel
I don’t know about you, but I’m always tempted to let my New Year’s resolutions pile up as high as the snowbanks at Mt. Rainier. Of course, it’s much harder to fulfill them than make them, but I know there’s at least one that I’ll have no problem keeping:
Just keep sketching.
Tabula rasa
We don’t get a lot of snow in my part of Washington. So if I want to see winter weather, I usually have to do some traveling first. I always seem to feel this urge right around now, the first of the year. Maybe it’s just the white of the snow—or the hush of winter—but something about a crisp winter day feels like a blank slate.
Here’s to a fresh start—or if you’re like me, a blank page in a brand new sketchbook. Happy new year!
Deck the halls
We’re away for the holidays this year (sketches to come, I’m sure), so instead of a tree at our house, I’ll have to settle for a picture of one. But I tell you what: there are few things more lovely than sitting for hours by the tree, basking in its glow and sketching every ornament, reliving the memories associated with each as you go.
Wherever you are today—at home or on the road—I wish you all the light and warmth of the season, with the very best of your holiday memories.
Merry Christmas.