Greening

Druid Hill Creek flows northward into Grays Lake. Regardless of season, about four to six inches of clear water runs constantly over its rocky and pebbly bottom. When heavy rain falls, though, the normally placid brook becomes nearly frightening, roaring and tumbling and sometimes reaching three or four feet in depth. Over the years I've painted and drawn the creek many times and in all seasons. It's comforting to think that this watercourse has very likely been here since before the city. 

Watching the creek change from season to season is instructive and one of the simple pleasures. Over the past ten days or so the undergrowth up and downstream has burst into a thousand shades of green. Most of the early growth is honeysuckle but there are all sorts of woodland plants below that, and not too far away a redbud tree, no doubt sown there by birds, has begun to show color along spindly branches. Now that the warmer weather has come, birdsong echoes among the trees and squirrels are chasing one another from branch to trunk to ground and back again. Naturalized narcissi are flowering, too. Spring at last, spring at last.

Spring Growth on Druid Hill Creek

I did the watercolor above in one of my sketchbooks this week, beginning in the usual way. This time I drew the basic composition with a red pencil, laid thin washes of red-brown over it and then put in the distant darks of the creekbed. Because it was more interesting to study the greens of honeysuckle and underbrush I omitted a lot of branches and grasses, especially on the left bank. after the color dried I lined the water, trunks, and branches using a technical pen and went over those with dark colors. I also  scribbled indications of foliage in the middle distance, where overlapping greens were most interesting. The very distant woods were left vague and unfocused.

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Other Views of Druid Hill Creek 2021:

Waning Winter

Two Views Downstream