Red

10/12/19 Greenwood neighborhood

I have some favorite maple trees in the Greenwood neighborhood that I try to sketch every year. They usually start turning earlier than most (last year they were already starting to turn by mid-September), so I was afraid I had already missed their peak. In fact, some parts were looking a little brownish, but the rest were green, so I’m not sure if the leaves will keep turning or just go brown and fall off.

Disappointed, I drove another block and spotted the most completely red maple I’ve seen yet. Right in front of it was a smaller yellow tree, and the two together set the street on fire.

Technical note: Unhappy with the Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Dark Red that I’d been using as an essential brick red (a shade notably missing from the Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle line), I switched a few weeks ago to the Terra Cotta in my small vintage Sanford Prismacolor watercolor pencil set. It’s working out nicely as a rusty red. For this red maple, I combined it with Caran d’Ache 060 (labeled Vermilion) to get the hue I wanted.