Early Pink

 

3/15/22 Green Lake neighborhood

Spotting those early cherries last week in Ballard encouraged me to go petal peeping in the Green Lake neighborhood during a dry moment on Tuesday. I saw quite a few pink blossoms, though most were just beginning to open. I think these are plums, and I chose them to sketch because the large dark trees behind them were a good background to make the pink pop. These plums still have a way to go before they are fully open, too.

What a beautiful time of year – we’ve sprung ahead to more hours of late-afternoon daylight, all the spring joy has yet to happen, and it’s often warm enough to sketch from the sidewalk (although this day was so windy that I stayed in my car).

This year's pinks

Technical notes: The more I use the Hahnemühle watercolor sketchbook, the more I love the paper’s texture. It does all the work for me when I’m sketching foliage – all I have to do is apply soft pencils and spritz lightly.

If you’re wondering which pink pencils I’m using this season, see at right. In past years, I’ve used Caran d’Ache Supracolor Light Purple (091) as my primary pink, but this year I’m trying Supracolor Pink (031) and Prismacolor Watercolor Pink (2929). Both seem too warm for cherries, but I’m cooling them down with Cd’A Museum Aquarelle Purplish Red (350), which is my CMYK magenta. Museum Aquarelle Dark Plum (106), which is also the color I use for plum trees after the blossoms are gone and only the dark red leaves remain, is my blossom shadow color.