Jose

 

10/8/23 "Jose," a 100-year-old Douglas fir, Maple Leaf neighborhood

While I’ve been busily sketching deciduous trees in their glorious fall colors, yet another healthy Douglas fir in Maple Leaf (very similar to the one I sketched in August) is awaiting an untimely death. Named Jose by his friends, this 100-year‐old fir will be cut down imminently to provide parking for a housing development. According to Tree Action Seattle, although the same number of houses of the same size can be built without removing the tree, the city has approved the current plan, which will maximize profits for the developer.

I could see that an excavator had already begun digging up the earth around the tree. “Posted” signs on the fencing and on the tree itself warned against trespassing (all those pesky tree huggers).

As I sketched, I met Cheryl, who lives adjacent to the property where the new development is going in. While she prefers a similar fir on their own property, Jose is her husband’s favorite tree, she told me. They are both heartbroken that Jose will be cut down. A member of The Last 6000, Cheryl is planning to plant three coastal redwoods on their property in hopes of helping to combat Maple Leaf’s canopy loss, which proceeds at an alarming rate.

Thank you, Jose, for your century of service to the Maple Leaf neighborhood.

10/8/23 Maple Leaf neighborhood

Rendering notes: Despite having decent lighting that should have been helpful, I kind of botched it on the tree. I find this type of fir to be among the most challenging to draw. Deciduous trees with big, round crowns are much easier than all those distinct fir branches curving out horizontally, each with a lighted side and a shaded side. In addition, although I had measured, I didn’t scale the tree accurately (I wish I had turned my sketchbook diagonally to give myself more vertical space); Jose is much taller than I’ve drawn him. I don’t usually include a full photo of my subject with my sketches, but I’m making an exception here because it may be one of the last photos taken of Jose. (Maybe this winter I’ll use it to practice rendering fir trees better.)