Roosevelt Way

 

5/19/22 Roosevelt Way Northeast, facing south toward Maple Leaf

Maple Leaf is straight up the hill from Northgate. Whenever I have an errand at Northgate, I like to go home via Roosevelt Way Northeast to see this view: The dense deciduous foliage fringed by dark conifers against the sky, and at the very top of Roosevelt is the Comcast tower that marks the center of Maple Leaf.

Values and composition study

Early afternoon, the sun was almost directly overhead, top-lighting all the trees when it wasn’t darting behind clouds. Dutiful disciple of Ian Roberts that I am, I made a values/composition thumbnail study first (at right). Unlike other times, though, when the thumbnail stole all the energy, leaving me nothing for the “real” sketch, this study actually served me in the way it was supposed to. (I think it helped that I spent very little time on the sloppy thumbnail. . . when I spend more than a couple of minutes on a study, my brain gets fooled into thinking it is sketching, not just studying!) During a sunny moment, I decided on the composition and scribbled in the values hastily. While I made the color sketch and lost the sun occasionally, the value study was helpful reference. For the most part, I even stayed with the thumbnail’s plan. The only change I made was to make a little more room for the sky so that I could put in some clouds. Well, there was one other thing: I cropped it more tightly on the right, so the recycle bin had to go, but I put in the less-prominent mailbox instead.

I like this composition, especially the balance between the car on the right and the high-contrast foliage on the left. My eye keeps moving without getting stuck anywhere or, heaven forbid, wanders off the picture. Where does your eye go?