Shady Southeast Corner

 

7/3/21 Intersection of NE 85th St. & 4th Ave. NE, southeast corner

Back in April when I was impatiently waiting to be fully vaccinated, I started a new series on the traffic circle at Northeast 85^th and Fourth Northeast, this time facing the four corners. I finished the northwest, northeast and southwest views quickly, but after I was fully vaxed, I wasn’t motivated by the same need for safety, and I was eager to expand my sketching boundaries, so it was easy to forget about that last corner. Truth be told, I was also procrastinating because the southeast view is always deeply shaded by a huge willow in the corner house’s yard. I was confounded about how to sketch all that dark without losing those tiny bits of light.

Last Saturday morning, I was in a completionist mood. (Is completionist a word in the normal world? In the hobby worlds where I hang out, collectors are called completionists when they must acquire all the pieces in a set of something.) I marched out to 85^th and Fourth, determined to figure out how to sketch all that shade. I did lose some of the tiny sparkles of light. In retrospect, maybe I should have left the small bits of light paper-white instead of using yellow to highlight them. I’ll try that next time and see if I can retain more of the light.

My first series on this same traffic circle was completed in May a year ago, when I sketched the four street directions. I think I’ve exhausted this intersection, but it is satisfying to complete a series. Sketches from the four corners are shown below.

4/15/21 Northwest

4/19/21 Northeast

4/29/21 Southwest