Reddest

 

11/4/25 Maple Leaf neighborhood

Just when I thought leaf-peeping season was winding down, I got a hot tip right in my own ‘hood. Seeing that the intersection was within walking distance, I bundled up for temps in the mid-40s and took a hike. I could spot its brilliance from a block away: possibly the reddest maple I’d ever seen in these parts, and certainly this season!

Halfway through, it started drizzling, so I was hasty, but I was determined to try to capture that color to document it for my own future reference. Despite my efforts, I didn’t do it justice, so I’m also including photos below for your leaf-peeping pleasure. Photographed with no filters!

Maples Afire

 

10/27/25 Maples, Crown Hill neighborhood

After the weekend’s atmospheric river and high winds that took power down in some areas, I was afraid leaf-peeping season was over. Ever hopeful, I drove over to the Crown Hill neighborhood again, where I had intel that a certain intersection was blazing with red maples. 

Indeed, four of them were afire! In fact, driving to the spot, I saw quite a bit of glorious color. Though late to turn this year, the trees are going out in style.

Close to Home

 

10/16/25 Maple Leaf neighborhood

This maple a couple of blocks from home is fun to watch each fall. It changes colors in a very irregular pattern, with some leaves at their peak while others are still as bright green as summer.

Material note: I sketched this one with my faithful watercolor pencils in an A6-size Hahnemühle sketchbook. As much as I love using water-soluble crayons in a (necessarily) larger book, nothing can beat the portability and convenience of colored pencils and a small sketchbook – materials so small and lightweight that I can take them on my fitness walks. I would miss a lot of sketches if not for that.

Leaf-Peeping in Crown Hill (and Pencil vs. Crayon Dilemma)

 

10/15/25 Crown Hill neighborhood (Caran d'Ache Museum Aquarelle pencils)

Caran d'Ache Neocolor II crayons

On what was probably the last gorgeous, sunny afternoon for the foreseeable future (and we’ve had more than our share this season – a rare treat in these parts), Kim and I met on Crown Hill for leaf-peeping and -sketching. Although she couldn’t join us, Mary Jean had scouted several intersections in her neighborhood with flaming maples. I parked near one and walked to the rest to check them all out. I had time for only two, but I snapped photos along the way for your viewing pleasure (end of post). What a lovely time of year!

Material notes: For many years now, Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle water-soluble colored pencils (with occasional Derwent Inktense in the mix) have been my color medium of choice. Highly pigmented, super soft, portable, versatile, easy to use and carry while standing – they are hands-down the ideal color medium for the way I like to sketch on location. 

Importantly, their portability and ease of use in an A6-size sketchbook make them an ideal choice on my fitness walks, like the sketch at Green Lake that I showed yesterday. Without water-soluble colored pencils, I would have missed that sketch that day because I don’t bring along a larger sketchbook or crayons when my main purpose is walking. I have long been in a deep, meaningful, committed relationship with these amazing pencils (sketch at top of post).

Svelte, lightweight, easily used in a small sketchbook while standing: The ideal color medium. (Look how ratty the Inktense barrels get after being daily-carried for a while.)

Once in a while I’ve flirted with Museum Aquarelle’s heftier cousin, Neocolor II water-soluble crayons. Chunkier and heavier, the crayons require a larger sketchbook to use them freely and slightly more water to activate fully. Not all the hues have top-level lightfast ratings, so the range is much wider than Museum Aquarelle’s, and I have several favorites in Neo II that I can’t get in MA. They are definitely not as easy to use as pencils while standing, though. I’ve managed to find a workable solution using a Rickshaw Sinclair as a standing case, but crayons are cumbersome.

Still, I used them quite a bit this past summer and even started wondering: Could this be the beginning of a serious, long-term relationship? What keeps me coming back to Neo IIs is that their large, blunt tips can’t be used to draw fiddly details, so they encourage me to think more like a painter. I enjoy the challenge of making large blocks of color and vague shapes (like the cars in the second sketch) instead of drawing tiny details.

Cumbersome but painterly.

In addition, Neo II crayons have taught me how to use Museum Aquarelles in different ways. For example, the crayons don’t activate quite as readily as the pencils, so I sometimes add layers of different colors after the first is dry, and then reactivate. I’ve lately been doing this more often with MA pencils, too. (By the way, to do this, strong, high-quality watercolor paper is necessary. I can do it with 100 percent cotton Hahnemühle, but not with most other sketchbook papers, which will start to shred after multiple wettings and reapplications.)

I know I don’t have to choose; I can have a happy, non-monogamous relationship with both. However, for a compact urban sketcher like I am, it’s burdensome to carry both. It’s been so long since I’ve made a substantial change to my portable sketch kit . . . is there an acceptable compromise I can find?

Green Lake Sweet Gums Redux

 

10/9/25 Green Lake

These are the same sweet gums I sketched at Green Lake on Sept. 25, but from a different locatoin. I could definitely see more color; in fact, when I got closer, I could see that they were past their peak – lots of leaves were already on the ground.

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.

That River in Africa

8/20/25 Maple Leaf neighborhood

 It’s the beginning of that season I know well, named after the river in Africa: Denial.

It started a couple of weeks ago when some of the neighborhood’s Japanese maples showed a blush of orange against their mostly green foliage. I averted my gaze. Plenty of summer left.

Last week during a walk, I passed one of my favorite maples. No, no, say it ain’t so!

Last of the Color

 

11/15/24 Japanese maples, Maple Leaf neighborhood

11/11/24 Maple Leaf neighborhood

With all the heavy rain and wind we’ve had lately, I always set out on my walks wondering if all the color will be gone this time – and then I’m delighted when I see that it is not. I spotted one house with multiple Japanese maples still near their prime, brilliant in the welcome sunlight.

On some streets, there’s more color on the ground than in the trees. Thank you, trees, for the pavement rainbow.

Pencilvember: Hahnemühle Wins Again

 

11/7/24 Derwent and Caran d'Ache watercolor
pencils, Pentel Pocket Brush Pen in Hahnemuhle

As mentioned a couple of days ago, I wasn’t happy with using graphite with tan paper. I had considered replacing the tan Uglybook with a white one for the remainder of Pencilvember, but I was already daily-carrying a Hahnemühle sketchbook while the trees are still hanging onto color. Why carry two white books? Could I use the Hahnemühle with graphite?

My first thought was that Hahnemühle paper has too strong a tooth for soft graphite. Secondarily, it seemed wasteful to use good, 100 percent cotton paper that was made to (ab)use with wet media for nothing more than dry graphite. For the sake of science, however, I decided to give it a try.

11/7/24 8B Uni Super DX graphite in Uglybook

11/8/24 10B Mitsubishi "brush pencil" in Hahnemuhle

Intending to make a full-color sketch on a sunny morning in Wedgwood, I started with a thumbnail in graphite only to test the Hahnemühle. To my delight, the paper’s tooth was quite pleasant with the 10B Mitsubishi “brush pencil” – one of the softest graphite pencils I own. Now it didn’t seem “wasteful” to use the book with graphite because I enjoy both the experience and the results.

Moving on to a full spread for the color version, I tried something else new: Typically, I don’t mix graphite with watercolor pencils, but Pencilvember seemed like an ideal time to do it. This time, I switched to an extra-soft Blackwing.

Once again, the Hahnemühle wins for its versatility (if not its less-than-svelte profile): Fabulous strength, sizing and tooth, even with dry graphite.

11/8/24 Derwent and Caran d'Ache watercolor pencils, extra-soft Blackwing graphite

  

My hand is full of the mix of graphite and watercolor pencils!

Beauty Remains

 

11/6/24 Japanese maple

Wednesday, another day focused on self-care, called for taking multiple walks in the neighborhood, and it was an amazing day for that. Under a constantly changing mix of clouds and sunshine, colors seemed especially brilliant, even as most trees were on the far side of their peaks. The red Japanese maple outside Macrina Bakery (at right), for example, had already lost most if its leaves, yet it reminded me of how much beauty remains.

Paper notes: Not wanting to carry too much bulk, I had left my Hahnemühle sketchbook at home, so I made do with the tan Uglybook I’ve been using for Pencilvember. Although I love the glimmers of light I can make with white ink or pencil on toned paper (see below), other colors always look dull. Uglybooks paper can’t take much water, so the light activation couldn’t bring out the intensity that’s so easily achieved with good paper.

So now that’s at least two reasons why this tan paper isn’t working for me right now: It’s harder to achieve strong value contrasts with graphite when the paper is already a midtone, and colors look dull. At least while the trees are still glowing, I need to go back to white paper.

11/6/24 Kwanzan cherries

Too Much?

 

10/29/24 Green Lake neighborhood

If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you know that I’m relatively reserved with color. Sure, I love color as much as anyone does, but I prefer working with primary or secondary triads – three base colors should be plenty. Even when I use color, I have been accused of being downright minimalist.

Maybe because I’ve been so tonal and minimal with my comics approach nearly all year, I needed a change. When I prepped my palette at the beginning of the fall season, I went full-on rainbow. And the danger of carrying a full rainbow is that I might be tempted to use it – all at once.

As I was finishing up this sketch made near Green Lake, I realized I had used every color in my bag. Too much? On an unexpectedly gorgeous afternoon that was supposed to bring rain (and another deluge expected the following day), I think not.

Back to my bulky but reliable favorite again.

Paper note: After filling the handbound sketchbook made with Hahnemühle’s 100 percent cotton block paper, I switched back to my tried-and-true store-bought Hahnemühle A6-size sketchbook. I really wanted the block paper to work because handbinding small booklets served my needs so well. But the two extremely different sides of the paper became a deal breaker. If it was just a matter of flipping every other sheet when I stitched the signatures so that spreads would have the same paper on both sides, I could make it work. But I just don’t like one side. The paper is obviously made to be used on one side only (as most watercolor block paper would be).

I’m relieved to be back to my reliable favorite. Look at how both sides of the spread above show identical textures, and even where the gutter interrupts the red Japanese maple, the continuation looks the same.

I’ll just have to deal with the bulkier book as I always used to.

Blazing Japanese Maples (and Mixed Media Whim)

 

10/28/24 Japanese maples, Maple Leaf neighborhood

Even these spectacular Japanese maples have not been spared the indignity of bad haircuts, but their brilliance still blazes through.

Media notes: Whenever I use watercolor pencils, I almost invariably use watercolor pencils only; the medium somehow urges me toward purity. On a whim, I pulled out my Pentel Pocket Brush Pen (a favorite for tonal sketches of street trees without color) to draw the tree trunks and limbs (and van), and then I applied watercolor pencils in my usual way: A generous spritz of water first, then color. I was still thinking about which color to apply for the shadow areas of the trees, when I noticed that the PlatinumCarbon Black ink (not completely dry, apparently) smudged a little from the water. I pushed it harder on the underside of the trees’ crowns, and the smeared ink was just the right shading I wanted. Easy-peasy!

Then, on another whim, I used a graphite pencil for the man, his dog, the utility pole and the wires, which I didn’t want to have as much prominence as the rest of the sketch.

Purism, schmurism. Bring on the mixed media.

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

Walking Leaf-Peeping Tour (Plus Hahnemühle Paper Issue)

10/15/24 Amelanchier trees,
Maple Leaf neighborhood 
(This is the side of the block paper that I prefer)

10/16/24 Japanese maple,
Maple Leaf neighborhood

My walking leaf-peeping tour is in full swing. Although not as brilliant as in some years, the trees have not disappointed me. Some have seemed later than usual; others earlier (and already past peak), but the staggered coloring makes every walk exciting.

I learned from my plant-knowledgeable friend Mary Jean that the block of beauties at left are Amelanchier trees. The rest of the year, they are non-descript street trees, but in the fall they turn brilliant red.

At right is one of my favorite Japanese maples within walking distance. It’s not quite at peak yet. Behind it stands a huge maple of another variety, already in the red/purple stage.

Paper notes: Putting these two sketches in the same post gives me an opportunity to complain again about a discovery about this Hahnemühle paper that I had mentioned in a recent post. When I first bought a block of 100 percent cotton Hahnemühle paper for a hand-binding experiment, I assumed it would be the same paper that Hahnemühle uses in the sketchbook that has become my favorite for wet media.

Initially I had noticed that the block paper had slightly more tooth than its bound counterpart, but I was fine with that. What I didn’t realize until I made that full-spread sketch was that the two sides of the paper are significantly different. (Signatures folded with all the sheets facing the same direction would put opposing sides next to each other on a spread.) The difference is especially apparent when I use the aggressive dry-on-wet technique that I love to use with watercolor pencils when sketching foliage because the colors go down more vibrantly than if I apply them dry-on-dry and then apply water afterwards.

I thought I could tolerate this paper anomaly if I simply avoided full spreads that would make the difference apparent. But the more I use the “wrong” side (from my perspective; I’m not sure which side is considered the “right” side), the more it annoys me. The texture on the side I prefer and even its sizing seem to take watercolor pigments more easily or better, or something. It seems less absorbent.

Because I’m a geek, I made some swatch tests using the two opposing sides of the handbound book and a store-bought Hahnemühle book. The purchased book’s paper is definitely the same on both sides, and it’s different from either side of the block paper. While making the swatches, I realized I prefer the paper in the purchased book.

Hahnemuhle 100% cotton block paper (handbound; the two pages show opposite sides of the paper)

Hahnemuhle 100% cotton commercially bound sketchbook (facing pages)

I’m going to have to think about this for the future – whether having the economy and slimmer size of a handbound book is worth the inconsistency of the paper.

Pencil notes: For the early part of leaf-peeping season, I used Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelles for most of my fall palette. Using my typical dry-on-wet technique for trees, however, I really missed the quick intensity of the Derwent Inktense I had replaced with the Museums.

What??! Am I forsaking my long-beloved Museum Aquarelles for – gasp! – Inktense pencils that I had looked askance at for years? No, of course not. For almost all water-soluble colored pencil techniques, I still favor Museums, which I believe are unquestionably the best. For example, Museums are creamier and more pleasant to apply dry-on-dry, and activation with water is easier to control. But for the specific technique I use for trees, Inktense pencils are more efficient. In terms of color intensity, you probably can’t see much difference between these (done mostly with Inktense) and the ones from September, like this one, done mostly with Museums. It’s more about how they feel to work with.

Maples on Northwest 80th

 

10/9/24 Maples, Ballard neighborhood

Driving home from Sunset Hill a few days ago, I passed several blocks lined with maple trees on Northwest 80^th that were almost past their peak already. I knew Mary Jean lived near them, so I made a proposal she couldn’t refuse: Croissants first at Rosellini’s, then sketch those glorious maples.

We had set a date for only a few days later, yet many of the leaves were already down. Although it means the trees are on the downside, I like seeing and sketching all that orange on the ground. These blocks will now be part of my annual leaf-peeping tour!

Paper note: I’m using the handmade sketchbook containing Hahnemühle paper. Making this sketch across a page spread made me see that the two sides of the paper are very different in texture: The left side (in my sketch) is much toothier than the right. The effect was amplified by inadvertently flooding the right side with too much water, which also took away some of the texture. When I looked back at the previous sketch I’d made across the gutter, I could see the different sides there, too – they didn’t show quite as much that time, though, so I hadn’t noticed. If I do decide to start hand-binding more sketchbooks with this paper, I will take care to reverse alternating pages in the signature so that facing pages in a spread will always have the same texture.

Green Lake with Roy

 

10/2/24 Green Lake Village courtyard and Green Lake

After seeing some of my sketches of Green Lake, Roy said he hadn’t been there in decades. I decided it was high time for him to make a sketch-visit at one of my favorite sketching (and walking) locations. We met up first for lunch at the Green Lake Village PCC, then walked to the lake. My favorite sketches were of the various types of birds hanging out at the shoreline, as common as they are.

Further walking revealed some color just beginning on a variety of trees. The one at right was so sporadically colored within dark green foliage that I thought maybe the red was coming from berries. Examined up close, however, I realized it was a maple, after all, with an unusual spotty pattern.

We may have stopped at Ben & Jerry’s for ice cream after our walk, but neither of us sketched, so there’s no evidence of that. (Ha!) A chilly morning turned into a beautifully sunny afternoon – my favorite kind of fall day.

Maple in Maple Leaf

9/30/24 Japanese maple

Leaf peeping in my own ‘hood hasn’t been too fruitful yet . . . many of my familiar trees seem to be behind schedule. Not the Japanese maples, though – they’re always first to the party. This one is a favorite just a couple blocks from home.

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

Ballard Errands

 

9/27/24 Rosellini's, Ballard neighborhood

With several errands to do in the Ballard neighborhood, I decided to make a whole morning of it, starting with breakfast at Rosellini’s Fine Cakes and Baked Goods. Knowing what a fan I am of Macrina Bakery, several friends kept urging me to try Rosellini’s croissants, insisting that they are even better than Macrina’s. A bit skeptical, I was certainly willing to do my own research. And darned if they weren’t right! Holy-moly, that was the best croissant I’ve ever had – maybe even better than those I’ve had in France! Thank goodness I can’t walk to Rosellini’s in five minutes as I can to Macrina’s, or I’d be in big trouble.

Fully fortified, I got on with my errands, and in between, I had time for a couple of tree stops. The first was a group of birch bark cherries documented in Taha Ebrahimi’s book. The other was a Japanese cherry that looked like it was on fire – both its color and its shape.