The theme of this photo-to-painting is foliage & autumn leaves! These photos were all taken this very month, intentionally as reference photos.
Through the upstairs window
I painted this from a combination of the photo and life, since I was painting near this actual window.
Why I wanted to paint this scene: I liked the way the dullness of the window framed the brightness of the exuberantly yellow tree. In real life, the tree looked yellower/warmer and brighter, and I wanted to bring that out in my painting. I also liked the movement of the actually falling leaves.
What I like in the painting: The boldness of the yellow colors; the interest of the unexpected teal in the roof.
What I don’t like in the painting: Lack of crisp edges because I didn’t mask anything. Using masking tape for the window edges would have helped and maybe using masking fluid for the falling leaves.
What the jury’s out about: I think that my method of painting short strokes for individual leaves was a bit messy and I could perhaps have painted groupings instead. But for a sparse tree actively losing its leaves, it’s not a bad approach.
Color notes: I used my main palette instead of my autumn palette, merely due to proximity. The yellows include Azo Yellow (PY151), New Gamboge, and Naples Yellow Deep.
Leaf Torch
Why I wanted to paint this scene: While walking by a pond in midmorning, I was struck by the way the light illuminated yellow-orange leaves on just one branch of a maple. The photo doesn’t really highlight this, so I decided to center it in my painting.
What I like in the painting: I did emphasize the glowing branch, and there’s decent value range.
What I don’t like in the painting: I’m not sure why but to me the painting just has an overall look that I don’t like. Maybe it’s too messy or something.
Color notes: I started out using Rich Green Gold (PY129) to make the greenish-gold leaves but found it too green and dull so I switched to Nickel Azo Yellow (PY150) with a touch of blue when needed. This implies to me that PY150 is really a better color for autumn and PY129 is a bit of a trap. The red is my usual fave Quin Coral (PR209).
Hawks over wetland
Why I wanted to paint this scene: Standing here, I was struck by the beauty of the autumn leaves framing the wetland on a sunny day, and I saw red-tailed hawks soaring here.
What I don’t like about the photo: I didn’t capture the hawks. The colors are not as vibrant or high-contrast as they were in real life. The sun is distracting. Busy.
What I like the in painting: Bold fall colors, detailed hawks, conveys the idea and feeling that I intended.
What could be improved in the painting: The sky has some awkward lines, but I’m not sure I mind too much. I tried to mask the hawk with tape and paint smoothly over the masking, but I used masking tape and it was difficult to make the right shape. You can see blotches over the hawk’s shoulder where the water was repelled by the tape.
Orange maple sketches
I painted this tree from life, which means it was a less polished plein air sketch, but I also snapped a reference photo in case I wanted to try it again later. I actually did use the photo to make another sketch later (still in my tiny plein air notebook), to compare the “one brush stroke = one leaf” method I used in person with a “clumps of leaves” method. Which do you like better?
