Unidentified at Green Lake

2/15/23 Green Lake Park

Although this is one of my simplest compositions of them, I’ve sketched these trees at Green Lake Park many times. This sketch from 2015 shows the whole row of them. One of my better compositions, this one is from 2020; I sketched it from the best window at Starbucks. When I sketched them in 2016, I was with USk Seattle. And here’s another from 2020 that shows more detail of their knotty trunks.

They are among my favorite trees at the park and possibly among my favorites in the whole city, but I have yet to find out what kind they are. The city parks department has published a map of the major trees growing around the lake’s periphery, but these trees are at the edge of the park a distance from the lake itself, so they aren’t included on the map. This spring when their leaves return, I’ll take some photos to help me identify them once and for all.

Color and paper notes: This simple sketch shows why I love a secondary triad so much. There was a time when I would have used some generic brown to draw tree trunks. With a secondary triad in my palette (and in my brain), look at that lively neutral mix I got from dark violet and orange! It’s hard to ever go back to brown.

Someday soon I'll ID these lovely trees.

As for paper, I wanted to show some bark texture, and since it was only 41 degrees out, I wanted to do it quickly. Having my new A6-size Hahnemühle in my walking bag made that easy – the toothy texture was just right, and so was the page size. In 10 minutes, I was done.