There are other apple trees growing on public boulevards in my neighborhood. This one is notable: it’s the latest to bear fruit and then, the fruit hangs on the tree well into winter. This year it was particularly bountiful.
I wanted to draw it before the first hard frost and the first snow. Before the brilliant autumn colors diminished. Time was running out. The forecast: 2 days of rain and wind followed by colder temperatures and then a snowstorm. With one day left, before the upcoming string of unfavorable weather, it was still too cool and windy to draw outside of the car.
Unfortunately it was Sunday and there were more parked cars then on weekdays. So I couldn’t get the angle on the tree that I had envisioned. I wanted to be across the street, with the tree in the foreground and the car wash sign on the other side of the block in the mid-distance. Hoping that a parking spot with this view might open up, I decided to bide my time and draw this sketch in my pocket-size Moleskin. No cars vacated my optimal spot. Resigned, I launched into a gouache painting, right from where I was.
Go to Eat Local: Scavenge on the Urban Sketchers Blog to see the gouache and enjoy a closer look at the apples.
You sure gave it a try, and got a story to tell about it. I love apples, too. We had crows attack our three apple trees this year. We had to share the apples.
ReplyDeleteNow that's a story, too--sharing with crows. I don't understand why the apples from our choice tree aren't eaten on by insects or birds. I know the City doesn't spray them.
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