Fall Colors

(C) 2015 Dale DiMauro

Last week I hiked on the trails behind our house, here in southern Vermont. I wanted to catch all that fall color before it passed us by. What struck me was the amount of yellows that dominated the tree canopies. 

I picked these three leaves which caught my eye, off the forest floor and set out to paint their colors and shapes. The day before I planned on working on this painting I put the leaves under a heavy book so they would not curl up on me. To start I put a wash of quinacridone gold over a wet watercolor block providing that warmth you see projecting from the paper. Next, I studied each individual leaf and leaf margin with their colorations, holes and blotches. I had to build up watercolor washes to arrive at the vivid colors which I saw.

As I write this, it is pouring out. I imagine much of the remaining deciduous foliage, full of color, will be washed away. My perspective shifted earlier this week from individual leaves to fall clean-up when I needed to start raking some of our leaves in time for our town's leaf pick-up.