Chocolate Bunnies

3/9/18 Satia trimming chocolate bunnies at Fran's

3/9/18 Spiraling staircase in Fran's historic building.

USk Seattle has sketched at Fran’s Chocolates in Georgetown in winter and in fall. Today was our first time in the near-spring, and I must say it was especially fun for a rabbit lover like me. The store was filled with chocolate bunnies and eggs! Even better, the workers visible through the viewing window were busily making them. I went straight for Satia, who was painstakingly finishing the seams on molded chocolate rabbits.

Fortified with a decadent mocha that tasted almost like straight chocolate, I took on the view I had been avoiding at my previous visits: the formidable spiral staircase.

Chocolate. . . sketching. . . does it get any better?

Many thanks to the hospitable staff at Fran's that always welcome us!

A good turnout for sketching and chocolates!

$75 gold-dusted chocolate egg filled with chocolate chicks

Chocolate Therapy at Fran's

11/11/16 Fran's Chocolates

The other sketchers I chatted with this morning all agreed: There’s nothing like chocolate to improve one’s mood. Our outing to Fran’s Chocolates in Georgetown was timely.

When the Friday sketchers visited Fran’s nearly two years ago, I spent most of that time sketching the workers handcrafting elegant chocolate truffles through the viewing window. Today I couldn’t resist one sketch from the same window (the scent in that spot is heavenly!), but I also had another mission.

11/11/16 Workers handcrafting truffles.

I wanted to find an interior view to use as a tonal study in graphite. It helped that most of the décor at Fran’s is dark brown, which kept me from being tempted to put in color. Facing the main retail counter, I spotted a vintage post with an interesting bumpy texture next to a stairway handrail – a fun and challenging exercise.

With the morning warming up, I wandered across the street to sketch an iconic Georgetown smokestack attached to the brick brewery next to Fran’s.

11/11/16 Smokestack behind Fran's

Chocolate therapy works. I, for one, certainly felt better afterwards. I brought home a box of truffles in anticipation of future needs.

Chocolate therapy works.

Sketching and Samples at Fran's in Georgetown

The Ad-Hoc sketchers were meeting in Georgetown, to explore Fran's, makers of fine chocolates , who had recently relocated there.  And I needed to kill 2 birds with one stone:  I've been following the daily drawing challenge on the FB group, Artist's Journals Workshop, and my current challenge was to sketch a historical building.  Perfect! I thought, knowing that the old Rainier Brewing plant was still standing in Georgetown.  So I drove down early and did my sketch.

Then I went inside to Fran's where I was greeted with a piece of chocolate: a raspberry truffle!  I'm sure it made for better sketching!!  Fran's has done a great job of utilizing the huge, open space of the old brewery.  The original windows, and wrought iron staircases (one is spiraling ) remain.  Also, the rather unique walls, where areas of brick peek through the plaster, which of course, caught my eye.

Chocolate. Georgetown.

What's better than chocolate on a dark, drizzly Seattle day?  The Ad Hoc Friday group spent the morning at the Fran's Chocolate shop in Georgetown.  It is a beautiful location which has modernized an old brick brewery but kept many of the interesting architectural bits.

Several of all of us sketched the spiral staircase!   I would probably not have attempted this a year ago.  But constant practice led me to feel I could attempt it now and I'm satisfied with the result.



Sketchers sketching.  There was this long table and several cafe tables on the other side.





Ann's husband, John, took the group photo.



Before joining the group at 10, I did a quick sketch from the car of the view of old brick and  telephone pole across the street.



After our outing, four of us went across the street to La Catrina for lunch.  Couldn't resist a very quick sketch.... including one of the sketchers and a rope of chiles.

Fran’s Chocolates!

1/23/15 making truffles

Under any circumstance, it doesn’t take much to get me to go to Fran’s Chocolates. And with my sketchbook? Meeting the Friday ad hoc sketchers at Fran’s new Georgetown location this morning was my idea of heaven: Sipping a mocha so rich I could have eaten it with a spoon, the scent of chocolate wafting gently from the kitchen, I sketched the workers handcrafting jewel-like creations through a huge window.

As I sketched, Fran’s daughter Andrina came by to chat, and I told her that I have fond memories of shopping at Fran’s back in the ‘80s when she had a small storefront in Madison Valley. Fran’s newest location is in a building that started out as the Rainier Brewery’s ice house in 1902, Andrina said. It’s now a sparkling-white kitchen and spacious coffee and confection shop for the family-run business.

1/23/15 making molded chocolate bars

Although it was fun to tour Theo Chocolates a couple of years ago, it wasn’t conducive to sketching because we had to stay with the group and couldn’t linger where the action was. At Fran’s, I could sketch by the window at my leisure with a perfect view of all the activity. 

Afterwards I joined the other sketchers in the café and retail area, where an employee helped a customer pick out chocolates like they were precious gemstones. (Yes, they are pricey, but worth it.)

A heavenly sketch outing, indeed!

1/23/15 Putting tiny flowers onto individual chocolates.

1/23/15 Retail and cafe area