Sidetracked by Color

10/10/16 colored pencils, ink

Driving through the Greenwood neighborhood yesterday afternoon, I was actually heading for my favorite traffic circle to see if our recent heavy rain had taken down the maple leaves. But I never made it that far, because I took a turn onto a street I don’t usually take – and stopped dead in my tracks. Though mostly bald on top, these two maples still blazed with color, going out with a big bang.

A similar sidetracking happened today, when I was walking across the University of Washington campus. I was on my way to the Quad, which is one of my favorite places to sketch during cherry blossom season. (It turned out the cherries were disappointing – mostly green but turning straight to brown instead of yellow and orange first.) On my way back to the car, I passed Paccar Hall, where a yellow tree (wish I knew what kind it is) was afire in the high sun. I went up to Paccar’s third floor terrace to sketch it.

The Pacific Northwest is not known for color (except dark coniferous green) the way the Northeast is, but we are having the most amazing autumn this year!

10/11/16 brush pen, colored pencils