Japanese Maples

11/5/23 Macrina Bakery, Maple Leaf neighborhood

 

11/4/23 Maple Leaf neighborhood

The first walk I took after our high winds and heavy rain, the sidewalks were blanketed with leaves. Many of the trees I sketched last month were now nearly bald, and I was afraid leaf-peeping season was over. I was delighted to see that the trees that usually start to turn first, the Japanese maples, are also the last to give up. Quite a few in our ‘hood must have hung on tight during the gusts and deluge because they are at full glory right now.

Waiting for one in particular to turn red, I noticed Saturday that it seemed to be stuck on orange. I was afraid it wouldn’t get any further this year – a lot of trees seem to be turning only partway, then giving up – and I didn’t want to miss it completely. I liked the counterpoint of pumpkins on the porch (at right).

The next day I checked out the Japanese maple growing outside Macrina Bakery, and it was as full red as any tree could be (top of post). I had trouble deciding on a limited palette to use – of course, I needed red, but the blue in my primary triad seemed too cool for this scene. The heck with limited – I pulled out all the stops.

I wasn’t sure if Derwent Inktense Ionian Green, the cool green I’ve been carrying lately, would be the right shadow complement to the tree’s red, but I gave it a shot. What’s surprising is to see how different that green looks when it’s activated (in the foliage) compared to dry (the background windows) – it’s much warmer in its dry state. I find this often to be the case with Inktense pencils – they make unexpected color shifts when water-activated.

You can see both the maple and the yellow tree behind it from a different angle when I sketched the bakery’s grand opening last summer.