Autumn Colors

"October Maples"
8x10 oil on panel

Autumn is in the air - actually a few mornings lately have felt more like winter than autumn, but it's a nice break from painting the greens of summer. The above painting was done at Washington Crossing Park, NJ. I went there planning to paint some of the old buildings, but the way the sun was hitting those trees was just too nice to pass up. I'm not sure if they really were maples, but "October Maples" sounded like a good title.

The scene below is more representative of what I really like about autumn: the muted greens that remind me of a Corot painting. This was another one where I got sidetracked: I was planning to paint along the D&R Canal at Griggstown, NJ - a place I paint very often, but I decided to wander around the fields by the Millstone River first. In mid summer, these fields never attract me, but now, those grayish greens and browns, the way the late afternoon light was raking across the field... I painted here instead and never made it to the canal (which runs just behind the distant tree line):

"Millstone Fields"
8x10 oil on panel