Red leaves in photo and paint

This is another in my experiments with taking photos and painting from them. Which is something that I guess most people probably do but I have this tendency to say "But wouldn't it look better with a unicorn stuck in the middle of it?" and shun realism. Well this still isn't attempting to be realistic, but when I look at the thumbnails on my computer they look pretty similar. Trying to get all of the details of how the leaves overlap would probably overload my brain so I am going more for the impression of leaves and light than a photo realistic rendition...

Oh yes and the painting is for sale on Etsy.


You may remember this photo from several days ago, but here it is again!

I have one more canvas in this size so now I'll have to find something else to paint tomorrow...

Meanwhile, I'm learning how to knit on circular needles and it's going swimmingly!

still hanging on...

This is the kind of picture that I assume people take when they want to create a peaceful fall feeling. Or maybe it just looks lonely, I'm not sure! At any rate, the leaves are extremely vivid and colorful despite being mid-November -- usually they have all blown off the trees by now. I would normally be posting new art here but I have been knitting/crocheting instead for the past week and I can't share my work since it is mostly gifts, and I don't want to post photos until I have given them!
It was in the 60's today which is unusual for this time of year, and a few dragonflies were buzzing around, well past the time of year I think I usually see them.


The frogs were still awake too! Curses on the leaf that cuts the picture in half though, argh!


A popular question has always been -- what colour leaves are your favourites? I think the bright yellow-orange ones are mine but I pretty much like all of them, let's face it.

Especially flame-red and orange against a darker pine green background. Goodness gracious!

The standard "I am a deer and I am looking at you from the path right before I bolt away" pose.

Ahh la lune! In the blue sky! That means one week until the full moon which means...hmm, the perfume web sites I have traditionally bought perfume from, will be posting their monthly updates. Yes, this is how I tell time.

Autumn leaves

I didn't miss all of the leaves this year...

You know, I'm no photographer (though my dad was an excellent one and my mom is handy with a camera as well) but I find that if you use the 16:9 setting your pictures suddenly look really classy and important! These looked pretty drab in the regular view, but the ol' widescreen makes it look rather impressive I think, even on my cheap camera.





Ah! How pretty! This is at one of my favorite little parks.

You can also see my other great photographic trick in the second to last one: "hold the camera at a slight angle" - ooh ahh, instant art!

Can't get me out of the woods

It was unusually warm today, around 70, which means that once everything else was under control there was time to check out the woods department. Most of the trees are bare except for some yellow maple leaves. The 'timer' on my camera isnt' really working anymore, can you tell?

After a summer of nonstop mushroom photography (I say that as someone who is not a professional photographer, mind you, just a random weirdo with a barely-functional cheap digital camera) I was happy to still be able to find a few of the little guys, peeping out from beneath rotting leaves. Lots of critters came out today -- lots of bright green leaf bugs and spidery friends.

Bright green moss is so beautiful! It was the only spot of green in the forest (other than those bugs) but it's so lovely.

Spider ahead!...
This guy was actually huge, for New Jersey -- we're not known for our enormous spiders, but he was as big as I've seen them. This was the only picture that came out clear though! After some research I think he's a pretty normal garden spider, but I've never seen a bright neon orange one before. Looking up spiders online, it looks like he might be an orange marbled orb spider (or some combination of words thereof) but I say that as a wild guess. The Clueness Naturalist strikes again.

Bought some more canvases on sale today, so it's back to my indoor activities now!

Ghosts in the woods

I haven't had much time this week for anything so I am just going to post and run, to share some autumn ghosts while the leaves are still on the trees. It got so cold so fast that I can't even remember where the sweaters are this year. Hopefully the leaves won't all be blown away before I can go and look at them.

They say there are more ghost sightings in October than any other month. It certainly feels like ghost weather. I expect to see something in every window of every empty house, and behind every tree in the forest at dusk.

Forest of eyes

Walking through the early autumn woods near twilight, the colors of the sky and trees strike me with their beauty. In the fall the world seems full of rainbows. The colors in the trees bleed from crimson to tangerine, gold, lime green and soft olive. The shadows stretch purple across the cooling earth. This year many of the trees were blown bare by brisk October winds before they even changed into their autumn outfits.

Although the eyes in these trees may appear sinister I don't think of them as being baleful beings -- trees are alive, even in the colder months, and whatever earthy intelligence they possess continues to watch over the woods even in the winter. Dark guardians of silent secrets.

More artist features coming soon, I just wanted to post a little something about this while it was on my mind.