This has been a year of discovery for me. Like the figures coming out of their shells that appeared overnight at Gas Works Park in August, my eyes have opened up to our city as I have explored with pen and sketchbook in hand.

I've been drawing for more than 20 years and have been a journalist almost as long, but since April, I have had the privilege of merging those passions with this print and online feature, Seattle Sketcher.

Being relatively new to this area, I treasure the impressions I've come away with. I felt the heat of the pavement as the Pemco clock hit triple digits, and the rain dampened my sketchbook more than once. I was up close with Seafair pirates as they swarmed Alki Beach, and I talked to commuters trying light rail for the first time. I sketched from a two-seater scull floating in the middle of Lake Union and from a fishing boat speeding across Elliott Bay.

Every sketch brought new stories to tell. At the Barça-Sounders game I met Big Lo, the city's self-proclaimed "biggest sports fan." At City Hall, I listened to Brazilian pianist Jovino Santos Neto and practiced my rudimentary Portuguese. At Dick's Drive-In in Wallingford, I thanked Dick Spady for his military service on the eve of Veterans Day.

I'm grateful for those opportunities and look forward to more in 2010.

Here's to the new year -- hoping that Hammering Man will get his arm back and mine will keep sketching.

New to Seattle Sketcher?
Read my first post, where I introduced myself. You may also follow the sketcher on Twitter and Facebook.