Grabbing Color When I Can

11/3/17 Northgate

Our spectacular autumn is over. Like a loud, overbearing, uninvited party guest, winter lumbered in a few days ago, and her name is La Niña. She brought overnight temperatures in the mid-30s and, most surprisingly, snow! I knew the sunshine wouldn’t last forever, and I fully expected rain by now, but snow?

Still, I’ve been grabbing color where I can, even last Friday when it snowed. I deliberately arrived at a dental appointment a little early because I knew I could park near those maples on Fifth Northeast that I sketched just the week before in the delightfully bright sun. The windshield kept getting covered with slushy snowflakes, so I had to keep turning on the wipers. (That streak you see running down the car on the right occurred when I leaned out the side window to take my “trophy” photo. Ah, social media. . . it has become part of the message.)

The next day – still chilly, but at least the snow had turned to rain – I had an errand at Roosevelt Square (below). Over the edge of the parking lot barrier, all I could see was the very top of a maple and two utility poles behind it.

11/4/17 Roosevelt Square

Today the sun was back. Temps were still in the 30s by mid-morning, so I stayed in my car for one last shot at my favorite traffic circle. I sketched this trio of maples (below) almost exactly a month ago when the one on the right was just starting to turn, and the one on the left was almost fully green. Now the one on the left has a few orange leaves still hanging on, but the one on the right is bald.

Sigh. It was a lovely fall.

11/6/17 Greenwood neighborhood

First Santa

11/29/13 Northgate Mall

I haven’t been out on Black Friday to shop in years, possibly decades, but I’ve found that it can be fun to be out in the hustle-bustle if I’m doing something other than shopping. This afternoon I went to Northgate Mall with a sole purpose: to sketch Santa. I had so much fun sketching Santa last year that I captured him twice – first at Northgate and then at Pacific Place. But surely I see more than two Santas in any given season; I’ve challenged myself to top that record this year.

Today might be the busiest day of the year for retailers, but Santa looked bored. I passed by him twice without any clients. On my third pass, a reluctant little girl was on his lap, refusing to smile, so I grabbed my opportunity. As has happened each time I’ve sketched Santa, his client was long gone before I finished sketching her, and then Santa went on a break.

On my way out of the mall, a young busker named Sarah Emerson was raising money for a trip to Ghana next summer to work in an orphanage. It felt good to know that the only money I spent at the mall today was the dollar I put in her bowl.