Bittersweet Autumn

"Pumpkins on a Hill" Andrew Wyeth

"Church at Old Lyme" Childe Hassam

"Church in Eastham" Edward Hopper

"Pumpkin Patch" Winslow Homer

"Pumpkin Head Self-Portrait" Jaime Wyeth

I love the season of Autumn and although I reside in Florida I spent many years in awe of the colors that enliven the landscapes north of the Sunshine State.  To me, Maine seems a state that that was created for colorful months between summer and winter.  I did a bit of research on some of my favorite Maine artists and their interpretations of Autumn.  It's a jewel of a season and it graces only certain locations in our magnificent country.  I wish I had more time to embrace Autumn and have but a few of my own paintings that celebrate the season, like the one below.  It passes so quickly and you have to grasp the beauty when it presents itself to you.

"Fall in Tioga County"
Krys Pettit
Oil on canvas panel 

Carl Sandburg, the poet, said it perfectly.
"I cried over beautiful things knowing no beautiful thing lasts.
The field of cornflower yellow is a scarf at the neck of the copper sunburned woman, the mother of the year, the taker of seeds.
The northwest wind comes and the yellow is torn full of holes, new beautiful things come in the first spit of snow on the northwest wind, and the old things go, not one lasts."

Oil and Water Mixing in My Studio

"Red Gate St. Augustine" (oil)

"Red Gate St. Augustine (watercolor)

Oil and water -- well known not to mix in a recipes, on our precious open waterways, and yes, when working with a painting.  But I mix my mediums if only on completed pieces these days.
For 25 plus years I worked in watercolor.  I like the medium and as finicky as it can be I have grown accustomed to the quirks. I love the immediacy and freshness of a watercolor painting.  But, as with any relationship, things were getting a bit old, a little boring.  They (who are "they"?) say artists shouldn't switch mediums when they are successful.  I say bull pucky.  And I succumbed to the seduction of oil paints.
   I have a marvelous instructor who is guiding me through what seemed a trickier process than painting with watercolor.  I love oil paint for the texture, viscosity, and bright, vivid colors.  It has more body for me, enabling me to build, correct, and give my images a certain patina.  But in many ways I want to work it like a watercolor, not overworking and letting the light places "sparkle" rather than dulling a painting.
   I am reworking paintings I have done in watercolor with oil these days.  Attached you will find a current effort.   On the left is the recent oil of an entrance in St. Augustine, Florida.  On the right is a watercolor image done some years ago of the same scene.  I know which one I like better.  How about you?