Apple Blossoms (and Bonus Couch)

4/6/16 brush pen, watercolor, colored pencil

When Nilda told me about a block in Ballard filled with “pink clouds” of apple blossoms, I was a little confused; I’d always thought apple blossoms were white. Yet I’d also seen many trees all over Seattle that had recently exploded with bright pink blossoms (a much brighter pink than cherry blossoms, which peaked in mid-March). I didn’t know what those pink trees were, but then I started to wonder – are those apples, too? *

On an afternoon like today – 66 and sunny! – I didn’t need much incentive to take a top-down drive to Ballard to see the trees for myself. From a block away, I could already spot the pink on both sides of the street. I could have picked any of them to sketch, but I chose the one that had recently had a low branch completely torn off. (I guess I have a thing for mangled or dismembered trees.)

4/6/16 ink, colored pencil

At the same intersection of 14^th Northwest and Northwest 63^rd Street, a white (faux, I think) leather couch had been abandoned on the grassy divide between the two sides of 14^th, so I bagged another one for my “urban couches” series.

* A quick Google image search confirmed that some apple blossom varieties are bright pink while others are white. I’ve sometimes observed grafted trees displaying mostly pink branches with one or two white, or vice versa. I had assumed that a cherry or plum had been interracially mixed with an apple to come up with those trees. Now I’m thinking it’s more logical for them to be a mix of two varieties of apple.

4/6/16 inks, colored pencils