“October’s tapestry” 8″ x 16″ oil on panel – plein air – SOLD

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Those first mornings of fall are the sweetest.  Just a hint of coolness in the air.  Just enough of a difference that you know it’s not summer anymore. 

The marsh grass is changing here. That is always the first sign of summer’s end.  Other places mark the change with the bold colors of  leaves on the trees.  Here the change of the season is told by the marsh grass.  

The bright green becomes a more golden green, then a rich gold and then a coppery orange and finally to a beautiful soft brown. 

I love the long, seemingly endless days of summer.  But the changing light as the sun hangs lower and bathes everything with a much softer, golden glow is seductive to an artist. Everything feels richer.  The colors become luminous, better versions of themselves.

As the days grow shorter, I can feel myself holding on to every ounce of daylight.  Not wanting to waste a drop.  The pull is strong, of wanting to be outside to paint it all as it changes.  Preserve the color and the light and the feeling of standing out there in the middle of all that change. 

I loved the texture in the landscape in front of me. It truly needs to be a much bigger painting.  But painting it small, observing it and figuring it out is a start.  It gives me a beginning to work from.  It’s like the introduction to a book.  The groundwork has been established and I know where I want to go from here.  I can pull the memory of how the scrubby myrtles weaved their way through the pines.  How the skeleton of the trees lit up orange at the edges from the morning sun. The way the grass moved and the lush tapestry of colors that composed it.  The way the salt smelled strong on the breeze and how soft the sky felt up against it all.  The feeling of the wet grass around my ankles as I began to paint. All of those feelings, those sights and smells flood back into my mind.  Enough inspiration to write another chapter…. paint another painting.