You might think that pictures of New England autumn leaves are fake because the colors are so bright. But they are not, and with the right angle and intensity of sunlight, the natural scene looks downright garish. However in this painting, I really did enhance the colors, both when creating the original and when restoring the old color slide. My old suite-mate at college commissioned this scene of brilliant fall leaves to give her consolation in desolate West Texas. The scene was drawn and color-notated on site in Cambridge during the fall season, then kept over the winter and not finished until the spring. It is also in an ink-heavy style that I didn't use again for my city and country views, in which all areas are drawn over and bordered with pen lines rather than blended smoothly with watercolor. It's almost a comic book style, maybe not appropriate for a Tasteful New England Autumn rendition. Well, it was a long time ago and they didn't have iPads back then.
Autumn Leaves is brown ink and watercolor on illlustration board, 14" x 11", spring 1983.
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