Nostalgic in Leschi (and Not)

8/30/25 The house I lived in from 1958 to 1984.

The last time USk Seattle met in Leschi was before the pandemic, so it was good to be back in my childhood ‘hood with the group (read that post first for more context). Last time, I spent more time reminiscing about and sketching the Leschi Market, an old-fashioned community grocery store where my mom shopped. This time I had a different mission:

I’ve long wanted to sketch my childhood home, but whenever I’ve driven by, I’ve seen that the front is mostly obscured by trees. Realizing that the best view is from the back, I hoofed it over to the house where I grew up (above). (Although it seemed like a long, long walk when I was a kid, I realized last Saturday that the distance from home to Leschi Market is only about 10 minutes for adult me.) The large picture window looks out on Lake Washington and sometimes Mt. Rainier (see this post for my childhood context on that). Although the current owners rebuilt the back deck that my father had built (it had become hazardous from disrepair by the time the house was sold), I’m grateful that they have kept the house mostly unchanged on the outside.

Walking back to the market and marina area where the other sketchers were, I kept looking for familiar sights. It wasn’t exactly nostalgic because so much had changed since I lived there, but it was good to see that many of the tallest trees were taller still, and some of the old lakeside apartment buildings were the same (though now turned into condos).

When I got back, I had just enough time to make quick sketches of the marina and the market.

8/30/25 Leschi Marina and Market

 

Colman Beach

 

I've found it's only a 15 minute, not-too-steep bike ride from my home to a few beaches on Lake Washington. I feel super lucky to be so close to an accessible and super beautiful waterfront for swimming and relaxing. Colman Park has a wonderful willow tree on whose branches I enjoy throwing up my hammock over the water. I did this sketch with markers + water from that spot, watching the Canadian Geese come out of the water and act menacing to the other parkgoers.

Leschi Nostalgia

8/23/19 Leschi Market in the Leschi neighborhood

On warm summer days when I was a kid, my older sister and I would walk the half-mile or so from our home to Leschi Market, where we’d buy popsicles or ice cream bars. Then we’d spread a blanket on the grass at the adjacent park to eat our treats with a view of Lake Washington and the marina. Of course, when I was eight years old, that view that others would call “breathtaking” or “sweeping” (especially when Mt. Rainier was out) didn’t impress me much. We had the same view from our livingroom window. I took it for granted. It’s only now, many decades later and no longer enjoying such a view in Maple Leaf, that I realize how fortunate I was to grow up in the Leschi neighborhood.

8/23/19 Leschi Marina

Indulging in such reminiscence while I sketched was a rare treat for me with USk Seattle today. Although Leschi Market is not a storefront I would choose to sketch under any other circumstance, I did, purely out of nostalgia. While nearly everything about the area has changed since I lived there, that store still remains (though I’m pretty sure they didn’t offer organic chickens when my mom shopped there).

Next I wandered over to the marina, which apparently inspired many sketchers. I walked partway out on a rickety dock that made me a bit seasick when the water suddenly went rough, but I liked the composition of the boats with the I-90 bridges behind them.

Leschi neighborhood

By the time we met for throw down, over 25 sketchers came to sketch the Leschi neighborhood, on the shore of Lake Washington. There were a few first timers, too.



Our sketchbooks filled 2 picnic tables!



I decided to drive back south about a mile to Mt. Baker park. I'd noticed this view a couple times. That's the I-90 floating bridge in the background. I tried sketching in watercolor and added the pen lines after.



There was a team of King County Fire Department rescue divers training as I sketched. The trainer stopped to look at my sketch and told me they had a couple new members so were training here as they get many calls to this location. On the other side of the dock is a swimming area.



I walked up to the street level to sketch this set of steps. This was done in pen with no pencil draft. Both sketches are on Stonehenge Aqua 140# coldpress watercolor paper, 5.5x8 inches (A5-ish).