Autumnal Inspiration

Hawthorn Berry 2013

There are times when I find being outside far more valuable to my painting than being in my studio. The inspiration I find from seasonal colours tempt my texture and palette experiments .There is no better time of the year than Autumn for  playing with red and gold pigments to achieve magnificent washes that zing with both energy and life. 

This morning I took Bailey, my Bearded Collie, for a walk and we both looked for treasure. For him it is usually a stick, not just any stick but one takes him ages to find. But once he has found "the one" he brings  it home carrying it proudly as if no other dog before him has found such a wonderful treasure. He makes me laugh.

But he makes me think about myself and what I look for as my own "treasure" on these early morning walks. I am never looking for just a hawthorn berry for example. I am always on the look out for that special berry that is unique, with either light playing on it or maybe its' sitting on a branch in a slightly different way to all the others. When I have found "the one" I happily bring it home to my studio and try to capture what I have just seen, in all its glory in the countryside. Via my finsihed painting I want viewers of my art to feel how I felt when I first saw my "treasure". So my special berry becomes far more than "just" a berry. It becomes an integral part of a new compsoition that was a joy to  work on while my painting developed.

This wonderful life of being an artist and seeing through an artists eyes makes the simplest of tasks like dog walking a sheer delight. Nature is my best teacher and  my inspiration increases daily from the changing seasonal scenes outside.

What better way to start any day than by looking for treasure. 

Whatever yours is have fun finding it!

Bailey in our garden with yesterdays stick!