Sketching Druid Hill Creek 6

The month of April was a dichotomy of weather. The first couple of weeks were wet, grey, and cold while the last two weeks of this month have been balmy and perhaps as close to a traditional Spring as you could get. Those dreary days during the first couple of weeks became so similar to one another that sketching them seemed a waste of time. By April 17, even a tint of green along Druid Hill Creek was unbelievably welcome. I ran a sketch of that day a while back (right), when the coming season still seemed remote, even as the morning light began to turn more yellow. The faint green was hardly striking, but at least it was encouraging. But the weather refused to cooperate. In fact, if anything the world remained shrouded in shades of grey.

During the third week of April, when the days began to warm,  seasonal changes began in earnest. The undergrowth is wild honeysuckle, always the first to leaf out. In those last days of April the brushy understory of plants simply exploded into leaf--from a mere hint to nearly fully clad--in less than a week. The woods along Druid Hill Creek are mostly willows with a sprinkling of black walnuts, mulberries and other species, and they remained bare. Much of the mature sun emerged at last and grasses and other vegetation peeped out here and there along the creek. The faintest hint of honeysuckle was visible on April 23, and by the 27th most of them were going green, their light grey branches overarching the creekbed.

By the end of the month I was able to move outside to draw and paint without worrying about snow, rain, or aching cold. Green seemed to hover over everything as narcissi began to flower. The creek often flows dark as raw umber paint but with areas that glow like amber. My vantage point was considerably closer to the bank, allowing me to

render a fallen log I'd been omitting for weeks. The greening honeysuckle cheered me even though the air was still a little cold. The rocky bank at few yards farther upstream is starting to turn green too as vegetation and undergrowth begin to awaken. One of the fascinating things about our woods is how secluded the creek becomes once the undergrowth and trees are leafed-out. When looking in certain directions during summer, you could be someplace far from an urban setting, yet we're only five minutes from downtown Des Moines.

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Previously in this series
Druid Hill Creek Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5