Warm Autum

A few weeks ago we spent a weekend biking on the trails around Lanesboro, MN, a small city that has built a local economy around all things biking. We stay at a very nice campground outside of the town called Eagle Cliff on the Root river. It is about a mile to the trail and once on it you can ride between several towns following the Root River all the way to the Mississippi river.

Dan took a photo of this bridge that is a few miles east of our campground. The light this fall has been so muted and warm. I did this one from the photo in acrylic on canvas. My big paintings seem to take about a week with lots of corrections along the way. This is one reason I like acrylic paints if the fence is crooked or too wide or the shadows not right--I can paint right over them and make the corrections. I had the most fun with the foliage because after I made an under painting with brushes, I changed my brush to a sponge and did most of the leaves in the trees and the weeds along the trail with a sponge dipped in a pile of slightly mixed paint. After every thing was done to my satisfaction I covered every thing with a warm glaze that pulled it all together.

In the mean time I still am working on that Ford Greyhound. What a job I cut out for myself with that one. With luck it will be done before Thanksgiving.
If I don't post before then have a very happy Thanksgiving holiday.