Program for Stanwood Library and SNOTRAC

Easy Turban Squash Recipe

Turban Squash, for all its dramatic color, is a scary one to cook. Why? Because you risk a tragic accident just trying to cut it! That goes for Acorn Squash, too! Once you have it cut in two and the seeds removed, just place the halves in a baking pan, cover 1/2 way up to the rim with hot water and roast at 375° F for 1 hr.

Wash the seeds, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Let them roast in a separate pan for about 10 minutes. Yum!

The Craven Pumpkin Farm with Seattle Urban Sketchers

To really and truly understand the multitude of offerings at Craven Pumpkin Farm, you must visit their website and Facebook pages. Their Autumn Festival is in full swing: Birthday parties, 3D black-light presentations, food, gifts, animals, Minions, hayrides, pirate ships, duck races, and people pushing wheelbarrows full of newly purchased pumpkins!

Fall Festival at Craven Farm

The Seattle Urban Sketchers monthly meet up began at Craven's at 10 am. For the first 45 minutes, it wasn't really cold at all and the rain held off. I took advantage by sketching the front gate post for my Inktober Day 18 drawing . See earlier post today. By the time I finished my first sketch, the parking lot had nearly filled up.

I wanted to catch the steam rising off the two large kettles out toward the back of the Snack Shack where they were boiling corn on the cob.

I toured as much of the property as I could before the rain started, then stepped inside the gift shop, Mouseville, and the animal barn to keep my sketchbook dry. Every once in a while I would step out again to check on something I may have missed in the sketch I was working on.

The man with the "Hair Style of the Day", was

Dutch Bihary, the face painter working at a barber chair inside the animal barn. His calm and smiling demeanor and fast yet effortless skill attracted an unending stream of children, ready to have him paint butterflies, tigers and more on their upturned faces.

After we shared our sketches, I could see that the rain was letting up, so I decided to stay and wait it out. There was a wagon load of fresh fall flowers, some pink pumpkins and a bin of apples that I had my eye on. I only had to wait for less than half an hour before I could go out to finish my two page spread.

Families, sketchers and people of all ages were not deterred by rain or cold.

Inktober in Snohomish

I spent the morning with Seattle Urban Sketchers at Craven Farms in Snohomish. Right there at the main gate was a great spot to make my Inktober 18 drawing.

Each gate post along the exits and entrances to the farm has a distinctive finial made of metal.

Everyone was already in the main farmyard, but rain was expected at any time, so I wanted to be sure to capture this before any drops fell. My water soluble ink would smudge and smear if it got rained on, and not in a good way.

Inktober finished for the day. Now I'm off to join the others in the farmyard for more sketching.

Autumn on the Centennial Trail

My two sketches grew together and would not be separated.

Hikers, bikers and strollers pass over the one-car opening under the bridge

The Snohomish County Centennial Trail is a 30-mile-long rail trail in Snohomish County, Washington, connecting the cities of Snohomish, Lake Stevens, and Arlington to Skagit County along the corridor of Washington State Route 9. I've always wanted to sketch the narrow opening under the old railroad bridge where you can just barely see that there is a house hidden back there. Actually, more than one house, but the view I chose today just shows part of one of them.

Catching the Leaves as they Fall

I pulled over for a tree today. I needed my Inktober Day 16 drawing and I caught a glimpse of it in the rear view mirror as I was driving home from my watercolor class in Kirkland. So I parked and stood on the sidewalk across the street from my car to sketch.

Market Street is quite dangerous for pedestrians, so the city has provided crossing flags for you as you prepare to use the crosswalk. Add that plus back lighting, no pockets, no chair, no color and leaves falling as you paint them and you've got a pretty thrilling 10 minute Inktober sketch. *James Bond music playing in the background.*

Inktober, Day 16--Lamy Pen, Waterbrush, Bee Sketchbook

House Made of Brick

Yes! You were correct. My third in the series is something made of brick. I'm not literally telling the story of the three little pigs and the big bad wolf. I'm just using the materials from which they made their houses as the spark for inspiration.

Inktober Day 14--House made of Brick

I had a bit of a challenge trying to find something that inspired me, but this back alley in Arlington was perfect. There's a small engine repair shop in an original old brick building which has been painted over. The big door (out of photo) in the back alley is where they take in the items needing repair and where all the character lives. Eventually all the guys in the shop had to ask if I was an artist and come over to see what I was drawing.

Straw, Wood,  Brick--Final Sketch in Progress

The sun came out while I was sketching and I may have gotten a bit of sunburn, since I thought that possibility was over for the year and wasn't prepared. I didn't even have sunglasses on hand! I did have a wide brimmed hat in the trunk of my car nearby, but it seemed a bit formal for an alley.

A House Made of Wood

Inktober 13, 2015--A House Made of Wood

I'm on Day 13 and the second in a series I'm doing for Inktober this week. Yesterday I sketched a "house made of straw". In my quest for something a bit different while still qualifying as a "house made of wood", the driftwood structures that emerge on the beaches here in the Pacific NW came to mind.

I have taken photos whenever I encounter them, but my goal for today was to do this Inktober sketch on location. I spent an afternoon prowling along Marine Drive near where I live, but all the beaches I wanted to visit were private or on tribal land and not open to me. So I ended up at Livingston Beach on Camano Island. (The teepee style driftwood structure in the upper left section of this photo collage was also on the beach where I was today, but it was on private property.)


I wanted to wait for a sun break at the end of my sketch so that I could catch some dramatic shadows. But the tide was coming in so I had to be satisfied with the light I was given. (Progress shot lower right.)

Can you guess what the third subject will be in this mini-series?

House Made of Straw

I have a bird's nest given to me by a friend who cut the entire branch so the nest would stay intact. So much fun using line and tone with this! I usually let the first drawing on a page dictate what the rest of the drawings on the page will be. If I do a series of three, want to guess where I'm going with this?

There is a phrase, "a house of straw", meaning that it won't take much to topple it down. Well, for 12 days I have stuck to nothing but black and white ink drawings for Inktober. Today I did my ink, but I just HAD to capture the color out there before it all blew away! So I toppled.


I drove to our Cinema in town where I know that the entire parking lot is ablaze with red trees. Beautiful to look at, but not quite what I wanted after all. Then I came around the corner and there in all its glory was a white dumpster, a yellow fire hydrant and above all, a group of trees showing all the fall colors!
It had rained earlier and the colors reflected for a while in the puddles and wet pavement. Perfect!

Inspired by the workbench

Inktober, 2015, Day 11: As I entered the garage today, my husband's workbench was back lit and the Kleenex box with tissue all  fluffed out caught my eye. Then there were his safety glasses and fishing hats hung on a peg, his 25 foot measuring tape on the window sill and an old "For Sale sign".

Gary's corner

Old fishing headgear and black safety glasses
Lawnmower upgrades for cutting our grasses
Pulleys and dead bolts and sprockets and springs
These are a few of his .............................

Haha, gotcha!