Backlit

5/27/20 Maple Leaf neighborhood

Now that mornings are warmer and start so early, I’ve been going out for my walk earlier, too. One day I headed out even before breakfast. The sun was still below many of the houses and trees, casting long shadows.

This is the kind of sketch (above) that would have gone better if I’d kept it as a values study. The backlit tree had a few spots of sunlight coming through the branches, but I lost most of that light trying to juggle two shades of green. A large rhododendron bush was mostly in shade except for a few blossoms on top. I lost the light on those, too, because I was distracted by their bright magenta hue (and I was tickled that I had the right colored pencil in my bag).

A couple of days later I found another backlit scene (below). Recalling my brief study of backlighting last fall, I was determined this time not to lose the light in the distant trees. I’d forgotten the fun challenge of these types of scenes . . . I’m going to be looking for more of them.

5/29/20 Maple Leaf neighborhood