Knotty and Nervous

7/10/23 Tree on Roosevelt Way NE

Macrina Bakery recently shared a customer’s image of a knotty old tree visible from a window seat. I love drawing those trees (which the PlantNet app tells me are either Tilia Europaea, the common lime, or Tilia Cordata, the linden), many of which line both sides of Roosevelt Way Northeast for several blocks. On a cool, cloudy morning, I grabbed that seat inside the café so that I could sketch it.

I’ve sketched quite a few of those trees over the years, like this one in 2015 and another in 2018. The one at right was more challenging (and therefore more fun) to render than it had first appeared. The light through the overcast sky was coming from the left, so it had to be brighter on that side. But the tops of the burls and bumps on the opposite side were also slightly illuminated. It was an ideal subject for a toned-paper study (that happens to be bright pink).

7/10/23 Pups outside Macrina Bakery

On my way out of the bakery, I found two pups nervously waiting for their human to return from the door they had disappeared into. It must be hard on dogs, who are probably never completely certain if they’ll ever see their human again.