In Praise of Idleness Drawing 19

Fall leaves

In Praise of Idleness Drawings 14 and 15

Fall leaves

Tree

Mid-October

Watercolor sketch of maple leaf

Another watercolor sketch of maple leaf

Mid-October
by David Budbill, from Moment to Moment: Poems of a Mountain Recluse

Almost all the leaves
are down.  Rain.

Clouds make a fog
just above the trees.

The world colder
more empty every day.

My favorite
time of year.

Leaf Series

Leaf Series 1

” . . . each falling leaf, each single leaf slowly falling, marks each moment passing, and you want to pick it up, and hold it in your hand, and be sure of it.  Everyone’s leaves are numbered, and nothing makes more sense than to gather them, one by one.”
— Kathleen Dean Moore, The Pine Island Paradox

This fall, for some reason, I can’t stop picking up beautifully colored leaves.  I want to paint them all!  Here’s a start, one by one.

That Golden Time of Year

“Yellow the bracken,
Golden the sheaves . . .”
— Florence Hoatsen

Watercolor sketch of fall leaf

Last week I celebrated the color red in the landscape.  Today’s post gives equal time to the yellows, golds, and greens.

Path at Green Lake

White birch with dappled leaves

Watercolor sketch of ginkgo leaf

Watercolor sketch of fall leaves

 

 

 

Thoreau on Seeing, Especially in Autumn

“Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn.”
— Elizabeth Lawrence

The turning of the maple leaves

“Thoreau is a first-class noticer, and he is our most articulate observer. He understood the power of and the need for directed attention carried out with the utmost intensity. He understood that we are what we give our attention to, and, long before William James put it in words, Thoreau understood that “attention and belief are the same fact.” Finally, Thoreau doesn’t just give you one autumn, he gives you the way to see every autumn.”
— Robert Richardson, “Fall Poetry:  Why Thoreau Adored Autumn,” Huffington Post online blog, October 3, 2012

Robert Richardson, in this week’s Huffington Post article, calls Thoreau “our finest writer on autumn.”    He remarks not only on Thoreau’s gorgeous descriptions, but praises even more Thoreau’s amazing powers of perception: “Like Zorba the Greek, Thoreau saw every thing every day as though for the first time. We all walk out into the same multitudinous world, but who among us sees as much as Thoreau did?”

My goal this year is to see autumn with “Thoreau eyes.” It’s a worthy habit to cultivate, I think.

Playing Tourist in Seattle: The Japanese Garden

The Japanese Garden in Seattle

I saw signs of autumn this week at the Japanese Garden in Seattle.  The edges of some maple leaves had already turned orange.  And the spiders were busy building webs.  I plan to return in October when the fall foliage should be at its peak.

The Japanese Garden is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.  It’s a lovely oasis in the city and well worth a visit.

Bridge over the ponds in the Japanese Garden

The leaves were starting to turn in the garden.

I love the pattern of leaves with their shadows.

Lily pads

Reflections in the ponds at the Japanese Garden

Feeding frenzy: koi vs. thieving duck

Colorful koi at the Japanese Garden

Ginkgo leaves

Green pine cone, Japanese Garden

I love how the spider web reflects the colors of the leaves.

One of several Japanese lanterns on the grounds of the Japanese Garden

Brilliant Plumage at My Feet

Kicking up colorful wet fall leaves with my yellow boots

Plucked trees in my neighborhood

November Day
by Eleanor Averitt

Old haggard wind has
     plucked the trees
Like pheasants, held
     between her knees.
In rows she hangs them
     bare and neat,
Their brilliant plumage at
     her feet.