Fog Behind Maples

9/12/13 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink, watercolor, Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook

After sketching the fog over Green Lake, I walked to my favorite stand of maple trees for another seasonal sketch. (To see my series of sketches marking the seasonal changes in this stand of maples, scroll down to the labels at right and choose “seasonal maples.”)

Whenever I intend to paint a sketch, I automatically grab a Lamy filled with Platinum Carbon ink – my waterproof ink of choice – for the line work. But since I’ve been using my Sailor filled with Diamine Chocolate Brown lately, I tried something new this time: I did the line work with that water-soluble ink instead. It’s a nice warm brown that washes with a reddish hue – just right for these trees that are definitely showing touches of red and orange. Against the backdrop of the foggy sky and lake, they seemed to blaze even more brightly.

I guess there’s no more denying it.