There is always that one day in August when you know that summer is coming to an end, at least for me here on the prairies. I go outside, and the light has noticeably changed, and the air has a different feel. It can be a clear summery day, but I just get this sense of a shift toward fall and away from summer. Yesterday was that day. I got out my bike to ride over for yoga and that was it – light at that lower angle, a certain dry scent to the air.

That makes me a little wistful, although autumn is my favourite season in this part of the world. Here we get such intense blue skies in fall, the sun at a sharp angle, highlighting all the colours, and clear air. If we are lucky, it can last for several weeks, gradually winding down the year. It also seems a bit like a new year – September always has that feeling of starting something anew, probably a holdover from our school days. We are stilled tuned to that kind of calendar via the university, so it seems much more like new year than New Year to me.

We had a few days of warm sunny weather again so I was able to sit out on the deck and work on a new watercolour painting. I have been doing so much oil painting in the last while, that I wanted to get back to watercolours. I had a bunch of lovely BC peaches, so decided to use them in a still life.

I am beginning to think that I am more or less a still life painter, regardless of what I am painting. I have tried various kinds of landscapes, sweeping scenes of skies and fields etc and it just doesn’t seem to work for me. I find that I need a point of focus, so that even if I do some kind of landscape, it is primarily of something specific in that landscape. That has been useful to clarify for me as I think it comes from my background in the sciences, particularly microbiology, where one is focussed on the very small. That might be a useful challenge for me at some point, to try and look at the ‘bigger picture’ as an exercise. Something to put on the list of things to try.

Speaking of trying, I have just checked out the FCA workshops for the fall and have found one on watercolour and texture with Alan Wylie (he has a redesigned website and has lots of his wonderful paintings). I took his workshop on oils and texture in March of 2008 and it was great. I have used the techniques he taught for several paintings. I was able to take my painting to a new level afterwards, which was very rewarding. He had photos of some of his watercolours, and they are so interestingly done and so intensely coloured. I really want to work on my watercolour and improve that to a better level as well now. I think that I could learn a lot from his workshop again. I will have to sign up quickly though – only 5 spots left already! I also noticed that they are doing a free critique session a few days later. That could be very interesting. To be critiqued by three well known artists. Have to be brave!

Well, it is a rainy day here, so I will spend the afternoon inside, working on the peaches. I ate one for breakfast, and maybe will have another for lunch – I do love them!