Friday, September 20, 2013

Autumn Maples 1 and 2

Autumn is my favourite time of the year and I enjoy looking out over the 300 acres (121.4 hectares) of mixed forest at the bottom of the hill with it multitude of colours.

The bright yellows of the birch, elm and beech trees, the glowing reds and oranges of the maples and later in the season the golden colours of the tamaracks standing out against the cedar, pine and spruce trees.

Each year brings a different kaleidoscope of colour and patterns throughout the forest depending on the changes in the weather.

Autumn Maples 1

In the bottom field by the Snelgrove Brook there is a stand of Swamp Maples, also known as Red Maple (Acer Rubrum).

They are one of the first to change colour in the late summer when the temperature starts to drop more than 10 degrees during night.

I did a quick sketch of them capturing the way the trunks and branches bend.

At the north west end of the track there are three maples I call the stop lights because one is yellow green, one is orange and one is red.

Autumn Maples 2

I did this sketch of them showing the fields and the road on the other side of the fence.