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.