Color on Route 113

The best fall color for the past week has been the trees lining our highway. I kept wondering how to get to paint it. It was cold on Wednesday, but sunny. While running in place to keep warm, I sketched the scene from atop the bridge. I and then went home and painted it.

Fall Finally Arrives

Wednesday was a spectacular day painting in Oak Park. The trees along 34th street are ablaze with fall color. Our urban landscape group set up in the morning at an intersection and worked away. It was also warm.

Farmland Color Change

Waiting for autumn color on my patch in the world has taken great patience. There are many farms here where I have painted but, thus far, little fall foliage color. We are pretty warm during the day and that may have something to do with change. So, in this painting, this is what I imagine I would like to see. Why not create your own? I did thicken my watercolor paint with some Aquapasto, a product made by Winsor Newton. It is fun to push the color around with this and I think I will bring it with me when out painting on location.

Autumn on the American River

This morning it was cool but the sun was shining. All 10 of us turned out to paint on the river and the day was perfect. The fishermen were out and the fish were jumping. I was told that they are salmon. There is little change in color to the tree canopies but nothing very pronounced. I think that we need some cold nights and the yellows and reds will be brilliant. As the morning progressed, the clouds moved in and the shadows grew darker. I was done in 2hr.

Cache Creek Remnant

The sun was bright while we were painting this morning in Esparto, CA.  The Cache Creek runs through with its stone riverbed.  Right now, the water level is low and debris from previous storms line the banks.  I found this spot with an old tree and set up behind it for a painting.  You can see the low water level in the background and the carved out river bank.  Everything is very dry.  This scene will change when the rains come in early winter.  My tree stump will probably relocate when that happens. 

Old Cranberry Bog

This was my final day of painting on Cape Cod.  I returned to the Harwich Conservation Area where I had painted earlier in the month.  The morning was crisp but sunny.  The area is an overgrown cranberry bog for the most part but has this water channel running through it.  There are birds chirping, crows squawking and even a fox out for a stroll.  It is fall and there are plenty of yellow and red colors to add variety.  It is a wonderful day for the senses.

Autumn on the Herring River

There is a nip in the air.  The greens are now golden.  Birds seem to be more active.  We went to our spot on Thursday to paint.  The tide seemed to be running out and it was quiet but beautifully sunny on the river.  What a day to paint.  I captured the furthermost house with its boat in front and chose to ignore the few houses along the road on the left side of the river.  That way, I have a focal point that is not compromised.  The eye path has a reward at the end.  I finished the entire painting on site and have not done any more to it.  It was a great day of painting.

Larry's Produce Stand at Halloween

What a fun place to be as families arrive to pick out pumpkins for their Halloween celebration.  Larry's Produce Stand in Vacaville, CA, is always busy, but it goes all out for Halloween.  There are mazes with hay bales, huge pumpkins, old farm equipment, hay rides, drinks, etc that are added for the shoppers.  The produce is always the best and inexpensive.  You can even pick your own.  The shopping is done in wheelbarrows.
I had plenty of visitors as I painted.  Kids wanted to tell me about their paintings.  Others debated which pumpkin to buy.  The general rule that I heard from several parents, 'you have to be able to carry it to the car'.  This is a plein air painting experience that is among the best.

Back Roads of Davis, CA

We are enjoying the clear crisp weather and went as a group to the outer roads at the University of California at Davis. The trees have lost their green and this dense growth is really all sticks and stems. Sort of challenging to paint. I did a little boning-out of the nearest trees but decreased the values as the road moved into the distance. I felt that the little shed and birds gave the composition some informal balance.
It is good for your painting to be plunked down at a location that you would not choose and try to put together a composition.

Autumn in Rural Northern California

I did this watercolor painting on a beautiful Sunday afternoon outside of Fairfield, CA.  Some clouds in the sky and everything quiet on this farm.  It had rained during the night and the ground was muddy but drying out.  The other two photos show a produce stand with a special setting for the season and a vineyard not quite turning color yet as it is still getting into the 80's temperatures.  Nice and warm and sunny for painting.  Trees are just now showing some fall color.
It will be perfect for painting if the weather continues this way.  I want to go back and capture the turning colors of the vineyard, which should happen pretty soon.