Another Dayton Maples Retrospective

 

10/22/24 Dayton Avenue Northwest, Greenwood/Crown Hill neighborhood

Since I did it last year, I’m doing it again this year, and then it will become a tradition: a Dayton maples retrospective.

The Dayton Avenue maples in the Greenwood/Crown Hill neighborhood (the trees are on the border between those two neighborhoods, so I’ve used both labels) are the trees I sketch most regularly on my annual leaf-peeping tour. Since I have so many now, it’s fun as well as intriguing to look back at all my sketches of the same trees every autumn. I choose the sketches that were done on dates closest to the one I did in the current year. It’s my version of a perpetual nature journal.

Above is the sketch I made most recently. Compared to when I sketched them in September, they’re showing some color, but this late in October, I’m surprised I didn’t see more. As is apparent from the sketches below, though, the degree of coloring has varied widely around the third week of October.

10/22/23

10/22/20

10/19/18

Leaf Peeping in Greenwood

 

9/29/24 The Dayton maples

Leaf-peeping season has begun in earnest, and I’m having mixed results. Some trees I’m familiar with seemed to be turning prematurely back in early September, while others seem late. Every year, I try to sketch the maples growing in a traffic circle at 83^rd and Dayton in the Greenwood neighborhood (at right). By late September, I fully expected to see more color than I did last Sunday. For example, when I sketched them on Sept. 14, 2017, they definitely had more color. It’s nice to know I still have more color to look forward to; I’ll keep checking back.

After a cool, overcast morning, Sunday afternoon turned out to be so beautiful that I left my car parked on Dayton and decided to take a walk through Greenwood. I spotted numerous trees that were way ahead of the Dayton maples in color; I noted their locations to sketch later. When I stopped for a Cortado at Herkimer Coffee (my favorite first stop whenever I sketch the Greenwood Car Show), I noticed that the tree across the street by the 74^th Street Ale House was just starting to turn gold around the edges (below). It’s probably not the type of tree that eventually turns red, but I enjoy sketching trees with any part of the fall palette.

9/29/24 Greenwood neighborhood, Seattle

The Dayton Maples

9/14/17 Greenwood neighborhood (water-soluble colored pencil)

The traffic circle at 83^rd and Dayton in the Greenwood neighborhood is one of my favorite harbingers of fall. Three slender maples were planted by an arborist who must have chosen three varieties that would turn on staggered schedules. The one on the north side always begins to color first, and the one on the south side is the last to finish. I sketch these maples in the fall more often than any other trees, and they are the most fun to track over the course of a season.

I looked through my scanned images and found the one below from 2014 with the closest date – Sept. 17. Sketched from the opposite side of the traffic circle, the one on the left is the north tree. It had quite a bit more color that year than it does today. Stay tuned – I’ll sketch them again in another month or so. 

(Since I’m occupied with graphite for the next 10 weeks, I have a feeling I’m going to rely even more heavily than usual on maples to give me my much-needed color fixes this fall.)

9/17/14 watercolor and colored pencil

Good Enough

 

10/8/21 Crown Hill neighborhood

Some years I stand up and declare that I’m seeing the best, most vibrant autumn color I can remember. Sadly, this is not one of those years. Certainly I’m seeing spots of bright red and yellow, but my usual leaf peeping tour has been disappointing. Trees that are usually full of color by now are looking faded and brownish. Perhaps our record-breaking span of rainless days and early-summer heat dome took their toll.

Underwhelmed by my favorite traffic circle of maples on Dayton Avenue, I continued looking around the Crown Hill neighborhood. A block or two from Dayton, I spotted a blaze of red. Good enough. I pulled out my CMYK primary triad and did my best to capture that vibrant hue.

The Dayton Maples are Late

10/22/20 Greenwood neighborhood

These three maples on Dayton Avenue are just a few blocks from the Fred Meyer where I pick up groceries each week, so I’ve been checking on them regularly. When I first started checking at the end of September, barely a leaf had turned. They still aren’t at peak – they seem late this year – but since sunny skies are scarce and undependable these days, I took advantage of a lovely afternoon last week to sketch them.

Because I try to sketch them annually (I missed them last year), it’s fun to look back on my blog and see what they looked like at around the same time of year. In 2016 and 2018, I sketched them in September, even as early as Sept. 10, and at least one of the trio had more color then they did last week (see below).

9/29/16

9/10/18

In 2017, the first week of October showed them with about as much color as now. The latest date in the season that I could find for having sketched them was Oct. 19, 2018, and my post for that sketch laments that I missed their peak of color (both below). So my hunch was right: The sketch I made on Oct. 22 this year is now the latest date in the season, and the maples are nowhere near peak. If the weather holds out, I might still have another chance to sketch them.

10/5/17

10/19/18

Dayton Avenue Maples

 

10/11/22 Crown Hill neighborhood

After more than two weeks of smoky skies, the air finally cleared on Tuesday. To celebrate, I threw open all the windows and doors, even though it was still a bit chilly in the morning, and inhaled deeply. Ahhhh! Then I took the top down and headed for the Crown Hill neighborhood: My annual leaf-peeping tour was on!

You’ve seen these trees on my tour many times. Nearly every year, I sketch this traffic circle at Northwest 83^rd and Dayton Avenue North, where three slender, tightly packed maples stand. (I can only ever see two at a time; I only know there are three because of the trunks.) The one facing south always turns first, and it’s usually done by the time the other two are at peak. I try to sketch them at various times of day, different times of year, and from different directions.

A fast line worker... I hardly had time to sketch him.

Of all the times I’ve sketched there, I’d never seen human activity nearby. What a treat: Halfway through my sketch this week, a line workers’ crew showed up, including flaggers directing traffic at the circle. I quickly put one guy in, but they moved around quickly, so I made a separate sketch. Then I caught the line worker – barely. He was up there for only a minute or two, then the team moved on down the street.

Just for fun, I’ve included below a few sketches from previous years. I have more than these, but I chose the ones sketched closest to Oct. 11, the date I made the sketch above, to compare the difference in coloring. It’s also fun to see how my media have changed over the years (and hopefully my skills).

Secondary triad note: Although I’m mostly happy with the secondary triad I’ve been using the past few weeks, I sometimes miss yellow. I haven’t missed blue at all, and red is easily improvised with the red-orange I’ve been using as part of the triad. Yellow, however, is impossible to fake (Caution/SLOW sign yellow, which I used above, doesn’t help, as it’s more yellow-orange). When I compare this year’s sketch to previous years when I had a full palette, I wish I’d had a true yellow to put more light on the very tops of the trees. Maybe I’ll put yellow back in.

10/14/15 watercolor

10/5/17 watercolor pencils, marker

10/19/18 watercolor pencils, wax pastels

10/22/20 watercolor pencils

The Dayton Cedars

 

10/14/25 Western red cedars on Dayton Street, Crown Hill neighborhood

These four western red cedars in the Crown Hill neighborhood are slated to be cut down and replaced by town homes and related parking. Environmental activist groups point out that an alternate plan is available to build the same housing while retaining the trees (yet likely wouldn’t be as profitable).

More than a hundred years old, the trees were planted by the Dyment family, who transplanted the cedars from Snoqualmie Pass so that the trees would surround their home. Beloved by the neighborhood, the four cedars provide cooling shade, mitigate stormwater runoff, provide oxygen, decrease pollution, and host numerous species of birds and wildlife. The homeowner cared for them until his death.

4/30/26 Here's a follow-up story on these trees.

Party for the Dayton Cedars

4/26/26 Greenwood neighborhood

 Back in October, I reported on the four “Dayton cedars,” as they are called by locals, that were slated for destruction by a developer. After more than 250 concerned and outraged citizens wrote to the developer, the plans were changed to save two of the four centenarian trees.

Last Sunday I attended a gathering around the western red cedars and the corner house behind them (which will be torn down for the multi-unit development). Although bubbly beverages and refreshments made the gathering feel like a celebration, participants were well aware of the irony: It was also a farewell to the two trees that will be cut down. Still, they conceded, losing half the trees was better than all four. Strands of tiny origami cranes decorated the two doomed trees.

Chris Collins has lived next door to the corner house for decades. At the event, he talked about how that house’s late owners, the Dyment family, had transplanted the trees from Snoqualmie Pass more than a century ago. Chris had been a major activist in trying to save the trees. He expressed appreciation to Tree Action Seattle and all the neighbors and other concerned citizens who had written to the developer. Given how ineffectual Seattle city laws are in protecting old growth trees, it’s up to citizens putting pressure on developers to save them.

The two trees on the left will be taken out along with the small house on the corner. Note all the shade that will be lost, as well as all the other natural benefits mature trees provide.

Dayton Maples Retrospective

 

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).

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.

Late Start to Leaf-Peeping Season

 

9/25/25 sweet gums, Green Lake

Usually by early October, leaf-peeping and -sketching season is at full bore, but this year the trees have been slow. While I’ve been spotting the occasional Japanese maple since the end of August, some maples are still mostly green (or going directly to brown, skipping the colorful stages). The Green Lake sweet gums that I try to sketch every year seem a bit behind schedule (above).

The Dayton Avenue maples in Greenwood (below) are at about the same stage as last year, though they have been trending later and later over the years.

9/30/25 Dayton Ave. NW, Greenwood neighborhood

Although I admire this bright red maple at Green Lake Park (below), it has not been on my general leaf-sketching tour, as it’s difficult to get a good composition of it. But since I’ve been jonesin’ for color and had brought along my Hahnemühle sketchbook on my walk with the purpose of catching some, I gave it a go. When there’s not much to actually “draw” in a composition like this, it’s fun to take a more Impressionistic approach.

10/7/25 maple, Green Lake Park

Perhaps the sunny days and cooler nights we’ve been having lately will give the slower trees a nudge. Why am I in such a hurry for the trees to turn? Admittedly, we've been having the kind of October that I usually envy other regions for because we rarely do: Sunny and warm and beautiful. Any day now, though, the weather could turn cold and wet, and that will be the end of the sketching part of the season. It’s a precarious time of year.

Triple Color

9/17/14 Platinum Carbon ink, watercolor, Caran d'Ache Museum water-soluble
colored pencil, Zig marker, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

When I first spotted the maple growing in this Greenwood neighborhood traffic circle from a few blocks away, I thought it was curious that one side was still completely green, while the other side was turning. Then I drove up closer and realized there were actually three maples (another curiosity: that’s a lot of trees for one traffic circle). Perhaps the arborist or gardener who planted this circle planned the varieties carefully to lengthen the time that the intersection of North 83^rd and Dayton North would be glowing with color. I might come back in a month or so and see what it looks like then.

(I do a lot of whining and lamenting at this time of year, sad to see the prime outdoor sketching season nearing its end. But despite that, I do love fall.)

Missing Red at Green Lake

 

10/12/22 Green Lake

Between appointments last week, I made a quick stop at Green Lake for a little leaf peeping and sketching. The color seems late this year; even the sweet gums started later than usual. I hope to get to the whole stand of those soon, but for this quick sketch, I stopped on the south end where the crew teams launch their shells. Four years ago but several weeks earlier, I had sketched from the same spot. All the trees began turning much earlier that year.

For the most part, my secondary triad has been working out well, but sometimes it falls short. When I sketched the Dayton maples, I missed yellow. At Green Lake, I didn’t miss blue for the water, as violet is a good stand-in, but I missed red. This tall sweet gum is turning an intense reddish-purple, not orange (see the 2018 post linked above). I can see that I’m going to have to tweak the palette a bit for the rest of leaf-peeping season.

Too Late

10/19/18 Greenwood neighborhood

It had been a couple of weeks since I sketched the maples at Metropolitan Market, and they were still at the peak of color when I shopped there last Saturday, so I thought I would have one more opportunity to sketch them before the color was gone. Alas, yesterday afternoon, the brilliant oranges and reds were now more brown, and half the leaves were already on the ground. I was too late.

Suddenly feeling panicky, I drove west to the Greenwood neighborhood to see how my favorite maples on Dayton Street were doing. . . could they be near the end already, too? It had been more than a month since I sketched them when the color was just beginning on the northern tree (on the right). Now that one was well past its prime, and the southern tree had lost some leaves, too. Again, I was too late.

On the upside, it was warm enough that I could sketch from the sidewalk instead of in my car as I usually do, so I was able to get a slightly different angle on the intersection for a change.

Process note: I sketch these trees every fall, almost always at about the same time of day (early afternoon), so presumably the sun is always at about the same angle. Yet yesterday was the first time I saw – really saw – how much of the lower part of the trees was in shade. When I look back now at all the sketches that I made at around the same time in October, I can see that I haven’t captured that shade well. I had always been so dazzled by color – which is easy to see even in shade if you know it’s there – that I unconsciously ignored the lighting. (This is exactly what I’m referring to when I talk about how distracting color can be and how it keeps me from seeing and understanding values.)

Just the other day I had read Shari Blaukopf’s blog post about the challenge of painting trees when they are half in light, half in shade. Having her post in mind, as well as all my recent work in value studies (in formal classes and in self-study), I focused my attention this time on trying to convey the light in the tops of the trees and, by contrast, the shade on the lower half.

It’s amazing to me how much I don’t see until I suddenly see it – and how many years it takes to finally see it. But unlike these trees that I wanted to catch at their peak of color, it’s never too late to see.