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   This is a true impressionist painting . I was after the colour and  the flavour of the season.  I had fun with the blue background, using some new techniques I've been working on. A gray background would have been more realistic but the blue allowed me to give as much punch as possible to the orange.  I am happy with the way the colours glow and I love how in the depths of the trees, there is a little bit of the spooky feel.

    I finished this work between 2 classes I teach. I posted it to my facebook page  www.facebook.com/artofsheilahowell  then  noticed a little area I wanted to retouch. I guess one should always sleep on a work before posting. 

    I have taken various bits and pieces of places I have seen and created a magical landscape with beautiful fall colours. 

    Autumn Joy is painted on stretched canvas and the sides of the 3/4 inch deep canvas are part of the painting so it can be hung as is, placed in a regular or floating frame. The hanging hardware is attached to the stretcher bars of the canvas and it has been varnished with a satin finish professional acrylic varnish.

  I love paths through the woods. This work was inspired by a path to my favourite beach but I changed the spruce trees to birch trees. It isn't unusual for me to use a real place as a stepping stone to an imaginary scene. I love to create landscapes I can get lost in as I am working. the title refers to the fact that I took another path in creating this work.

  This piece features a lot of layering of colour. The trunks of the trees have several layers of colour built up to give depth and almost a glowing quality. The sky was painted in several layers which was then almost covered by leaves which were painted with brush and sponge. The path and foreground was created with layers and then I actually sponged a bit of the foreground as well.