Pasta & Tea

I focused on Pasta & Co for my first sketch because of nostalgia. When it first opened in the early 80's I was living in California. While visiting Seattle my sisters introduced me to fresh pasta at the U Village store and upon returning to CA I bought a hand-crank pasta machine and convinced a friend that we could start a business making fresh pasta and selling it at our local market. 

We planned well for a number of months, concocted recipes and inquired about regulation kitchens, while managing the four toddlers we had between our two families. We were never able to get beyond the stainless steel kitchen requirement, but the whole experience was fun and memorable. I still have our recipe sheet with my favorite pesto recipe. 

So in honor of memories of California days...



I laid down a few pencil lines before starting then switched to my pen. Before I started with color I swiped my eraser on the page and smeared right in the center of the page. See that rain coming down just above the door?

Remembering California didn't keep me from shaking with cold after an hour of sketching in the courtyard so we found the new TAZO concept store next to Starbucks. I sipped tea, thawed out and quickly sketched the scenery.