"Autumn Winds"

Autumn Winds

36" x 60" Acrylic on canvas

For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Isa 55:12

I wanted to communicate the feeling of leaves dancing in the wind, so I painted with dots and dashes of color in order to give a California Impressionist feel.

As a native of Los Angeles and life-long resident of southern California, it's hard for me to tell the difference between seasons here. Winter differs from the other seasons in that it is colder and rains from time to time, but snow seldom visits these parts and roses bloom in my patio all year round.

There are seasons in life as well and it is wise to accept that fact. Spring turns into summer's heat, summer turns into fall, and fall gives way to winter.

But here is the hope of the Christian: winter gives way to spring -- endless spring, the reality of the resurrection!

Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the woodrejoice. Ps 96:12

"Great art picks up where nature ends." Marc Chagall

Click here to discover the source of creativity.

Here's a great point to keep in mind. We can never duplicate nature. It's impossible! Only God can make a tree! But we can take the elements of nature as inspiration and make a painting based on nature - not copying nature. Marc Chagall has made a crucial observation.

Experimenting is fun!

When painting a new landscape I'm continually trying to discover more effective ways to get the job done. There's urgency to try to reach a higher level in the creation of art.

Painting Tip

Here's an important tip for making your artwork more exciting: Design a dark-on-a-light painting, or a light-on-a-dark painting.

Avoid creating a half dark painting and a half light one. Remember to make all the divisions in your work unequal.

Don't make all curved lines. Create straight lines against curved lines. For some reason, the natural human tendency is to make everything of equal size or sameness.

Artists know that we need to have varied shapes, but it's a constant struggle to keep this in mind because of this human tendency.