Fall Traffic Circles

9/29/16 water-soluble colored pencils, inks

Most of the year I don’t pay much attention to the trees growing in the traffic circles in Seattle neighborhoods. In the fall, though, they are among my favorite places to look for trees in their brilliant colors.

Just a few blocks from home is a bright yellow aspen that I try to sketch every year (here it is last year, in 2014 and in 2013). I like to catch it when it’s still half green, but I was too late this year – it has a lot more yellow than green, and the top is already getting sparse (below). Though it was raining Saturday, I stopped to sketch it anyway because I was afraid most of the leaves would be gone if I waited until the next dry day.

A favorite traffic circle is in the Greenwood neighborhood (at right) – not one but three slender maples together, and one is always much redder than the others. Last Thursday afternoon was mostly sunny, and I liked the way the power lines and their shadows framed those dazzling trees. (I think I say this every year, but I have to remember to go back in a few weeks when the two mostly-green trees finally turn.) Here’s what they looked like in 2015 and 2014.

10/1/16 water-soluble colored pencils, ink