Autumn is a celebration of leaf and berry - not the soft juicy berries of summer but dense dark blue beauties and pink/orange explosions flirting with the birds and slyly promising, “If not now, you’ll want me later.” Just like my annual Mlle Poire competition for last year’s best looking pear (the prize being immortalized in oil before being devoured) I encourage all of the neighbourhood berry shrubs to try out. Last year the winner was an old favourite growing in very own back garden; the perennially welcome pagoda tree. If you can time it right, this pretty understory tree has both the berries and the variegated red leave present and accounted for. I found one such photo.
Once the reference shot was resized to best position the berries, it was full steam ahead. That kind of ease beginning to end is less frequent than one might guess. I have more than once put a half-done painting aside for up to a year. Partly that’s to dry the layers so thoroughly that the surface becomes easier to work on if fine work is to come. Sometimes I hit a wall about developing the right background or feel unsettled about an overall palette.
This babe didn’t need a thing and practically painted herself. It helped that each leaf and berry each functioned like an abstract painting, every one lending itself to individual attention. I can’t wait to spend the winter with the cheery presence of “All Things Bright and Beautiful” in our kitchen.
We didn't even eat the subject matter!
Once the reference shot was resized to best position the berries, it was full steam ahead. That kind of ease beginning to end is less frequent than one might guess. I have more than once put a half-done painting aside for up to a year. Partly that’s to dry the layers so thoroughly that the surface becomes easier to work on if fine work is to come. Sometimes I hit a wall about developing the right background or feel unsettled about an overall palette.
This babe didn’t need a thing and practically painted herself. It helped that each leaf and berry each functioned like an abstract painting, every one lending itself to individual attention. I can’t wait to spend the winter with the cheery presence of “All Things Bright and Beautiful” in our kitchen.
We didn't even eat the subject matter!
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