Late Summer at Green Lake (and Permanent Blue)

 

9/8/21 Green Lake

Every day now I imagine that our weather will change, and we’ll head straight into fall’s wet, gray, relentless gloom. Looking around at all the parched, yellow grass and singed trees, I would welcome such weather with relief, yet I also can’t help but rejoice whenever the sunshine continues: It’s a Pacific Northwest sketcher’s constant ambivalence.

Last Wednesday morning at Green Lake, it was softly breezy and 71 degrees. I stood in the full sun to make this sketch without breaking a sweat. My walk home was just as comfortable and pleasant. It’s hard to give this up.

Technical note: Even though I was skeptical, I tried yet another blue: Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle’s Permanent Blue (670). I haven’t had much use for this blue, which is dark and subdued when dry (the darkest shadows under the trees where I mixed it with Purplish Red), but when activated, it becomes a bright turquoise (though my scanner doesn’t seem able to show it accurately). As I expected, the green I got when I mixed it with Lemon Yellow isn’t right.

Museum Aquarelle Permanent Blue (670) mixed with Purplish Red and Lemon Yellow