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| 10/22/23 Crown Hill neighborhood |
Although I’ve sketched the Green Lake sweet gums
often enough, I think the trees I sketch most regularly on my annual leaf-peeping
tour are the Dayton Avenue maples in the Crown Hill neighborhood. Usually
by mid-October, these trees have been turning for weeks. When I checked on them
last Sunday, I was amazed that the color had barely begun. Maybe they’re not
going to turn at all this year; maybe they will simply go brown and fall apart.
I’m not posting the entire collection here, but instead I chose sketches that were made as close as possible to the date of this year’s sketch (at right) on Oct. 22. In 2020, I happened to sketch exactly on Oct. 22, and although they were certainly not at peak, they had more color than this year. Three years prior, I sketched them on Oct. 5, and the one on the south side was turning vividly (both below).
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| 10/22/20 |
10/5/17
I’d like to point out here that although it’s always tempting to exaggerate gorgeous colors (and I know many sketchers and painters use their artistic license in this way), when I sketch trees in autumn, I try to be as accurate and realistic as possible and be “truthful to the scenes I witness” (Part 4 of the Urban Sketchers manifesto). I’m not rigidly adhering to “rules,” and I’m also not judging others who choose to use artistic license. With these sketches, I simply enjoy documenting the varied timetables these maples follow each year. It’s the point where urban sketching and nature journaling come together in the same sketchbook. Heck, it’s even reportage, telling a longitudinal story of a couple of traffic circle trees.
It is interesting that their peak time changes from year to year,
ReplyDeleteOur memories are never as good as we think they are. Especially when it comes to the seasons, when they start and end, if the first and last snows are sooner or later than "average" and as with you, when leaves turn and fall in autumn. I find recording as you do and then checking back to previous years a good thing to do.
ReplyDeleteThe other interesting thing is that I never really noticed things like whether trees were early or late -- until I started sketching. When you look for things to document in a sketchbook, you notice everything more.
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