It was hot today. In the 80s. Having recently returned from snowy New Jersey, I feel a bit guilty. But since I had nothing to do with it, I can easily forgive myself.

I mention this because today, pi day (the date being the first five digits of the number pi: 31415), was the first opportunity I had to sit outside and draw. I am getting over the remaining touches of the flu, and felt that the outside warmth and sunshine might help me to feel even better.

Today’s watercolor experiment:

I began today’s painting with pencil. I sketched in the fence, tree trunks, tangled branches and nascent leaves. I outlined the pencil marks with pen and ink, shading the background with a combination of hatch marks and squiggles.

After I finished the ink sketch, I began by painting the sky with peacock blue, keeping the pigment above the ink markings. I painted the background behind the trees with Hooker’s green. In order to make the new growth of the yellow-green leaves to stand out, I tried mixing red and mauve in between the Hooker green background, as well as outlining them with black ink.

Pi Day Drawing
6″x9″ 140# Cold Pressed Watercolor Block

Comment:

I would have liked the yellow-green leaves to stand out more against the background, as this is what attracted me to draw this scene in the first place.

I consider this sketch as a bookend to my painting of the last leaf on this very same tree, back in the fall. That painting was larger in format and more complex, but both compositions illustrate the cusp of a season.

Last Leaf
9″x12″ 140# Cold Pressed Watercolor Block