Early Harbingers

8/21/23 Maple Leaf neighborhood

After staying sealed up in the house the previous day to avoid breathing “unhealthy”-rated wildfire smoke, I saw that the air quality index had improved enough on Monday morning to get out for a short walk-sketch. Some bright colors caught my eye.

I guess it’s time to get out of that river in Africa. Three-quarters of the way through August, the trees can no longer be said to be “fading” or dehydrated from lack of rain. This cluster of Japanese maples told the true story: They were gearing up for fall.

Color note: As mentioned in Thursday’s Green Lake post, I was having difficulty getting good darks from the Caran d’Ache botanical palette, so I added Museum Aquarelle Night Blue (149) to the mix. I usually save dark blue shadows for winter, but we’ll see how this goes into early fall.