Cool and Rainy Green Lake

 

6/17/22 Green Lake Way from Retreat Coffee

While the rest of the country burned, boiled and flooded, we were still “enjoying” June-uary. Don’t get me wrong; I’d choose a rainy 58 degrees over triple digits any day (we got a taste of the latter just about a year ago, and it was hell in more ways than one). At the same time, I was resentful that I was still wearing socks (my personal policy is to avoid socks from Memorial Day through Labor Day).

Last week on a drizzly afternoon, dressed in socks and Polartec, I defiantly went to Green Lake anyway, looking for a sheltered spot to sketch from. Retreat coffee house, situated on a corner, has lots of sheltered outdoor tables and chairs on two sides. I found a good spot facing a curve on Green Lake Way.

Thumbnail study

The thumbnail I started with taught me at least two things: One was that I didn’t want the light pole to be in the middle of the composition, so I cropped it into a square instead of a landscape rectangle. It also showed me that the line I had made for the curving street was more prominent than I wanted, but if I made it less so, then I needed something else in the foreground. I didn’t bother to draw the foreground car in the thumbnail, but I knew what I had to do for the final color sketch.

As for color, this sketch was made with primary triad No.1, and I still have my doubts about it. My intention was to find a primary triad that was warmer than the CMYK-based one I had been using, and this one feels too cool. Or maybe it’s just right for the summer we are having: By the time I finished the thumbnail, I had to move my sketchbook away from the edge of the table, as the drizzle had turned to full-on rain.

Cool palette to match our summer.