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| 10/11/22 Crown Hill neighborhood |
After more than two weeks of smoky skies, the air finally cleared
on Tuesday. To celebrate, I threw open all the windows and doors, even though
it was still a bit chilly in the morning, and inhaled deeply. Ahhhh! Then I
took the top down and headed for the Crown Hill neighborhood: My annual
leaf-peeping tour was on!
You’ve seen these trees on my tour many times. Nearly every
year, I sketch this traffic circle at Northwest 83rd and Dayton
Avenue North, where three slender, tightly packed maples stand. (I can only
ever see two at a time; I only know there are three because of the trunks.) The
one facing south always turns first, and it’s usually done by the time the other
two are at peak. I try to sketch them at various times of day, different times
of year, and from different directions.
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| A fast line worker... I hardly had time to sketch him. |
Of all the times I’ve sketched there, I’d never seen human
activity nearby. What a treat: Halfway through my sketch this week, a line workers’
crew showed up, including flaggers directing traffic at the circle. I quickly
put one guy in, but they moved around quickly, so I made a separate sketch.
Then I caught the line worker – barely. He was up there for only a minute or
two, then the team moved on down the street.
Just for fun, I’ve included below a few sketches from
previous years. I have more than these, but I chose the ones sketched closest
to Oct. 11, the date I made the sketch above, to compare the difference in
coloring. It’s also fun to see how my media have changed over the years (and
hopefully my skills).
Secondary triad note: Although I’m mostly happy with the
secondary triad I’ve been using the past few weeks, I sometimes miss
yellow. I haven’t missed blue at all, and red is easily improvised with the
red-orange I’ve been using as part of the triad. Yellow, however, is impossible
to fake (Caution/SLOW sign yellow, which I used above, doesn’t help, as it’s more
yellow-orange). When I compare this year’s sketch to previous years when I had
a full palette, I wish I’d had a true yellow to put more light on the very tops
of the trees. Maybe I’ll put yellow back in. |
| 10/14/15 watercolor |
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| 10/5/17 watercolor pencils, marker |
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| 10/19/18 watercolor pencils, wax pastels |
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| 10/22/20 watercolor pencils |
Loving those purple shadows! I think you're right about the yellow, and it would add a nice contrast to the shadows, too. I like the sketches of the work crew.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Yellow is back in! ;-)
DeleteI like comparing the effects that you get with the different kinds of media. Each one is so different. It is hard to work without a yellow. I've been thinking of finding a nice yellow watercolor pencil to put in my bag. Invariably when I reach for my yellow paints (and there are 3 of them in my palette) they are all contaminate with green. It is hard for me to get a pure yellow without wiping paint off the yellows.
ReplyDeleteI remember from my watercolor days how hard it was to keep yellow clean! If you get a Caran d'Ache Museum Aquarelle, it is so rich in pigment that you will feel like you are using paints! :-)
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