Fall on Druid Hill Creek

Although it is late November, the past few days before this post have felt more like December. The autumn colors have shriveled into brown and the leaves are crisp and sere. Unlike some years, a cold snap finished the season with a few inches of snow.

"The Opposite Bank," watercolor 5x9, 10/8/19

Early in the season, the trees held their leaves and stayed green. In fact, so little changed that even in early October (right) the trees were dense with foliage and the undergrowth of honeysuckle and small plants remained dense. This watercolor was done on the bank, using the same simple technique of pencil drawing, spotting in color emphasizing with ink and then finished with detail. The ink emphasis was confined to the center of interest. I used broad washes of color to explore light slanting into the woods.

"Companions," watercolor, 5x9, 10/16/19

The next small watercolor (left) is another done a little more than a week later, from nearly the same place on the bank. In this painting a tree that I had edited out of the first watercolor (above) shows up almost wrapping itself around the much taller mulberry while a thin black walnut seedling stands nearby. The same dense undergrowth and greenery show how little the season had advanced by then. There was virtually no color but greens in the woods and foliage across the creek from the studio.

But within only a few days the colors of autumn began. First to come are usually yellows--they would have been ash trees here in years past but the ashes have been cut down to stop emerald borers from advancing. Nonetheless, the other yellow trees fill in beautifully with flashes of yellow flame. Then come the reds in all of their abundance, from dark red-brown through rusty to glowing incandescent reds. Here in the upper Midwest this is the glory of fall.

"Color on Waterbury," 5x18, 11/2/19

About two weeks after the two watercolor sketches above I spent about ninety minutes along a street not far away, trying to catch some of the fall colors in paint. These trees presented a kind of stair step progression that made for a tall, narrow format (two pages in my sketchbook). The air was brisk and the sky crisp and clear, so the crispy brown leaves of the giant at the back made a great contrast to the smaller, brighter trees along the street. The light was autumnal and even though it was early afternoon, trees out of sight cast long shadows across the street. In only two weeks, this much change had come to this part of the country.

"Early Snow," watercolor, 5x9, 11/11/19

But the season had more in store, as I mentioned above. Last weekend we had a low temperature near zero degree Fahrenheit and two or three inches of snow. Since then the cold has finished the colors. This watercolor shows how the landscape turned drab, the snow accumulated along the dark-flowing creek, and the undergrowth here and there stayed a bit green despite the frigid blast. But that was the end of the color show, and effectively the end of Fall.

No doubt we will have some Indian summer before actual winter. I'm counting on it for a few more outdoor sessions. 
---
Related Post
Changing Seasons