Church in the Mountains

Church in the Mountains , a photo by linfrye on Flickr.

9" x 12"
Arches 140#CP

This painting was done for a workshop I'll be taking next week with Freeman Beard (http://fbeardart.com/). I"m looking forward to the workshop and working with landscapes for an entire week! After the last busy four months and the busy weeks that will follow, this weeklong respite and focus on art will be, I hope, most restorative for me and reenergize my creative side.

This painting is from a photo Freeman took while in Asheville, NC. His image was from the summer, and I wanted to focus a bit on the colorful season of fall.

As I look out my window this morning, those magnificent vertical boles of woodland trees are becoming more and more evident. Their splendid gowns of burgundy and gold now lie at their feet as if the trees were too tired to hang their dresses after the fun of the autumn ball.

When I fed the kitties this morning, there was ice in their bowl, and in my garden frost rimes the verbena. There are a few roses still struggling through the growing cold, and next week, our temps will tease us with yet again with warm breath....but the earth has made its annual turn, and autumn will soon slumber for another year.

In the stores, we are reminded that Christmas is less than 8 weeks away ...and like the roses, I am reluctant to see the end of autumn's splendor. I suppose that is the melancholy of fall - its short-lived, vibrant celebration of spring and summer's work, and the magnificent display of its harvest joy.

Still, like all creatures and Nature herself, winter is the time for rest, recuperation, the rebuilding of energy for another year. It too has its beauty ...but I have never been easy with goodbyes ....not even to seasons.

Today I hope to return to the art table and hopefully I'll find my muse patiently waiting for me. The busyness of the last months has made painting - and getting into that glorious 'flow' of the process - mighty challenging. Perhaps today, she'll whisper in my ear, and sit on my shoulder, and linger a while ...

Hope she joins you too! Have a great weekend!