Fall Colours, Now and Then

 As October winds down it has been a remarkable fall season so far- the colours of the leaves changed slowly and the sky stayed blue most of the time. Every now and then I get to paint in the fall season, some years it rains or even snows suddenly and the leaves go brown, other years it is bitterly cold, or recently, the leaves barely changed colour it was so warm. We just had a near-zero evening or two, and the leaves have gone golden yellows and rusty oranges. To make the oranges I mixed isoindo yellow (PY110), benzi yellow (PY154) and benzi orange (PO36) along with umber (PBr7)and perylene green (PBk31). Here and there I dabbed in phthalo green yellow shade (PG36). 

Terrebonne Street Fall Trees 4 x 6" cold press, watercolour, October 2020

I have posted quite a few fall scenes on my blog this year like at Trenholme Park, and in the past for example the blue car on the 8th line, and a river in London reflecting fall colours. The one above was from the 90's I guessed 1999 based on the style and proximity to other paintings in the pile. Cataloguing my art from 1997 until about 2015 was difficult due to poor record keeping, although there were dates on paintings, and other trips I could remember. This is out towards Highway 50 and Columbia Way, there used to be good views there until the houses were built.

Bolton Fall Vista Sun Beams, 5 x 7" cold press, watercolour, 1999 (No. 0255)

 

This painting was done from a similar vantage point, albeit a few years after the previous painting was done. You can see the wide range of colours and confident technique compared to the 99 paitning. I assigned dates to each painting, this one could have even been as late as 2010. The colours are very stylized here, I've got the French Vermillion hue in the mixes (PR242) which is a very bright red but it tends to fade with sun exposure. The greens were using Hooker's green, a kind of bright army green.

Bolton Fall Vista with Pine Tree, 5 x 8.5" cold press, watercolour, 2004 (No. 0143) 

 

 

Here is a scene from London Ontario, featuring one of my favorite motifs at the time, a truck trailer. There is even another one sandwiched into the scene. Bright orange and green leaves adorn the background. The colours were similar to the last painting, which makes me think they were done about the same time give or take. The sky, and the side of the truck rely on cerulean blue (PB35), with touches of rose madder (PR83) and aureolin (PY40). As of 2020, I have now replaced the entire selection of paints from that era with equivalents and replacements.

London Truck Trailer Fall Tree, 5 x 8" cold press, watercolour, 2004 (No. 0537)