EARLY AUTUMN ON PEW ISLAND

11 x 14" Oil

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The trees are just beginning to change; however, I'm not sure if this is due to the quickly approaching Fall season, or if these early whispers of autumn are actually a result of the current drought we are experiencing in this part of Ohio. What do you think?

When I looked out across the channel toward the lake, 

my eyes were particularly drawn to the colors of the leaves on the far trees. 

I saw touches of orange! 

I've been noticing these changes where we live also. 

So, I mixed these colors: several greens, 

some sky & water colors: blue and pale yellow 

AND some of that orange I was seeing!

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As I normally do, I started with a photo of the scene 

overlaid with grid lines and the 4 dots to indicate where those grid lines crossed.

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As I began applying these mixes. 

my intention was to emphasize those lovely trees, and to 

purposefully downplay the sky and water. 

So, I used a bit more detail in the trees, but softened every other part of this painting.

I heard a bunch of commotion and looked over at Dennis,

wondering if he had caught something.

Sure enough, he had pulled in a huge catfish.

They can get really large in this lake!

I smiled and said, "Whoa! He's huge!"

We don't typically like to eat them; however, so

I said, "I'm sure that was a fun catch, but, just throw him back." 

Assuming he did that, I continued to paint.

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At this point you can see how the colors began to interact on my palette.

They can get a bit messy, but that's 

the nature of painting.

Messy doesn't bother me!

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By this time, I had been painting about 1 and 1/2 hours

and although the temperature was only 71,

the sun was hitting me directly,

and I needed to go turn the AC on

in the car. So I quickly finished this painting, 

scraped my signature into the paint,

took a photo of it, and packed up my

painting gear, and did just that.

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EARLY AUTUMN ON PEW ISLAND

began to say what I wanted to portray.

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AND

"The One That Got Away?"

Well, on the way home, Dennis said, 

"Something strange happened while I was fishing." 

Thinking in my mind 

"What could possibly happen that would be strange while fishing?  

I mean fishing is fishing, right?" 

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He went on to tell me that he had put

that big cat on a stringer anyway,

considering bringing it home.

You guessed it......that huge, strong catfish

pulled the stringer knot and ran away

with the stringer!

All gone.

The one that got away!

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Hope you enjoyed this little adventure we had.

Please leave your comments below!

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Until next time,

have a great week.

God bless you!

Donna