Leaning Birches

Leaning Birches, a photo by linfrye on Flickr.

8" x 12" Watercolor
Arches 140#CP

Though frost rims the grasses and the trees have now lost their cloaks, and the color of the sky is more grey than blue, I am still clinging to the fall's warm colors and having a hard time saying good-bye to a season I clearly love.

My walk yesterday between rain showers had me marveling at the architecture of the now-naked trees and the sheer number of ochre leaves beneath my feet. The rain hushed the once-crackle of these leaves and their slick surfaces made walking up and down the small hills a challenge, but I loved seeing their browns and umbers before they become the fodder of compost ....

This painting is an outgrowth of that walk. Though we have no birches of this type in our neighborhood. I used the white of these trees to play against the remnants of warm sienna-colored grasses and the wet-dark of the single tree I painted to represent those I saw yesterday. The painting is imagined and though it grew more from emotion than planning, I like it and will repeat the lessons I learned - colors, darks, how to 'warm up winter' ... to try this again.

We've all heard that painting is like our signature - we have a style or approach that is our own no matter what we do, and thus adding something new, trying to change, enhance, add, loosen, tighten or whatever to move our artwork forward can be mighty difficult, frustrating as well as rewarding. I'm finding that to be so true -- as well as tiring! LOL But like any new habit, it will take constant repeating and repeating before the changes become more 'natural' than consciously produced ... but oh is the process of change slow .. sigh.

Back to the painting table ....

Have a terrific week!