In attempting to capture the beautiful colors on display in the fall, I found myself getting way to heavy with my foliage. I guess this comes from wanting to emphasize and communicate fall color to the viewer.
This one is more successful: a rendering of a cottonwood tree decked out in in fall foliage. I was able to keep the feeling of light-weight foliage supported by this fast growing tree.
The first image is of the tree alone and gives you a chance to focus on my method of how the leaves were applied.
Over a watercolor underpainting, I scumbled my pastel sticks in shades of yellow and warm browns purposely using a light touch and leaving plenty of the background color showing through.
The second image is a more complete painting. I really enjoyed working in the background with the contrasting colors of lavender and blue. I felt this helped bring the tree forward while creating some more interest in the painting as a whole. The limited pallet worked very well.
