The Colors of Autumn

Early October near McCammon, Idaho

The beautiful colors of autumn make it my favorite time of the year. I love leaf-peeping, fall photography, and of course, making colorful autumn art! I try to get in a few hikes during the peak of fall colors in "my neck of the woods," such as this photo: a perfect reference pic for a future painting!

Our most recent open studio sessions have consisted of fall-themed art-making, such as this this richly hued autumn scene of a country road meandering through the woods.

The artist, age 10, worked with soft pastels to create this piece, called "A Fall Walk in the Woods." You can see another post with more examples of this project here and a video showing how to draw it here.

We call these cheery birch tree paintings "The Colors of the Wind." We know we can't see the wind on a blustery day, but we can see the leaves swirling around and we can imagine the colors of the wind. To make create these, we first painted the backgrounds, then we painted, cut out, and glued our tree trunks and branches right over the painting. Fun for any age! Find out more about painting your own Colors of the Wind right here.

Most recently, we created these sunlit paintings of a walking path through the woods in autumn, with plenty of falling leaves and a cute little park bench so you can rest your feet. 

Notice how each painting of this basic scene differs from the others. The colors, the highlights and shadows, the pathways, the trees, the falling leaves, and the styles of the park benches are all based on the original ideas and creativity of the artist.  

If you would like to paint or teach someone to paint this colorful autumn scene, you can learn more in our original weblog post, Park Bench.

Birch Trees at Sunset
watercolor greeting card, by Braylie, age 10

Candy Candy Candy

Dots, tempera paint on paper

It's all about the candy! 

Actually, I loved Halloween because of the costumes. I loved that mother made ours and later I could make my own.

But later, in the end, it really was all about the candy! 

As a tradition around here - after the big night - we make candy art! We save a few leftovers to use as our candy still life subjects. (Then of course, it gets eaten.) 

Leftovers, mixed media on paper

We place our candy pieces on a tiny 'stage,' usually just 3 or 4 inches square. Then we copy the image lightly in pencil to a square piece of drawing paper, anywhere from 7" x 7" to 10" x 10" or even larger. 

The challenge is enlarging the tiny subjects on the tiny square proportionally to the large square. It's easy to draw too small.

Sweets, mixed media on paper

We have found that it helps to draw two pencil lines on the the tiny stage dividing it into quarters before placing the candy on it. Do the same to the drawing paper and then draw what is seen in each quarter.

After the initial drawing is completed, simply fill in the colors with art media of your choice: temperas, colored pencil, pastel pencil, charcoal pencil, etc.

When finished, erase your pencil guide lines and stray drawing lines. Then smear a bit of charcoal and/or charcoal pencil in the background to give the table surface some color and create shadows beneath and around the candies. 

Tip: if you are meticulous and cannot depend on your candy stage lasting forever, or if you may not finish your candy artwork in just one sitting, it may help to take a picture of your candy still life (from directly above, of course) for later. Have fun!!!

For more student samples and detailed instructions, see our previous post.