Clouds Lifting from Mountains in Fall: Rust-red and Deep Green Trees

Clouds Lifting from Mountains in Fall

Rich, Rust-Red Tree

The colors are the draw in both of these photos, though the compositions of both are kind of nice, too. Each one is dominated an autumn tree of the deepest, richest rust red imaginable. The trees have almost a velvet quality. In the first landscape photo, the mountain is a really exciting color of blue, touched by light that just does something to the soul. The contrast between the gray clouds and white light is dramatic, as well. That photo has some really nice, dark evergreens in it. It's too bad about the hay sign, but that wouldn't be a problem if using the photo as the subject of a painting ~ and of course, it could be Photoshopped out of the picture itself, if needed. I'm not publishing these in print, so it's not necessary; but the sign does bug me.

The second photo has that incredible mix of contrasting colors that I love in a landscape. I've painted similar mixes before ~ I'm always looking for that contrast. It's not always that easy to find nice views. Of course I see them while driving down the road, but I can't always stop ~ and it's always in some awkward spot where you couldn't really set up a paint box and easel, even if you wanted to. The telephone lines in this shot are a real drag ~ but they're not important in the scheme of things, and certainly wouldn't end up in a painted landscape. It's that rust, ochre, dark-dark green, soft green, brilliant orange, and deep red-orange that excites! And of course, there's that touch of lovely, muted, smoky blue of the mountains behind it; also, a touch of brilliant green where the new grass has started back. Color rich! That's what I need.