A cure for cabin fever

We had a break in the weather with temps in the 50's today so it gave me a chance to get out and enjoy the outdoors. I had tried getting out a few times when it was in the teens a few weeks back but it was just too cold. I didn't even get the sketches halfway done and my fingers were numb.
Today was pleasant compared to that so I walked the trails at Neshaminy State Park and found a couple compositions to paint.

It was great to be out again.

Red Roses repainted

8x10 oil

I repainted this piece recently hopefully for the better. Each year I learn a little more about painting which gives you the knowledge and confidence to tackle problems you face.

This painting I had for a few years and I thought it was ok at the time, but as time went on the more I looked at it the more I thought it could use some brighting up but I just didn't know what to do.  So I thought what does it hurt to experiment.
I made a middle value grey for the background from the red and the green I used in the roses and replaced a white cloth for the dark brown table top.
Now I think the painting has better color harmony to it.

Autumn nocturne

                   8x10 oil

This is one of the few painting I did this year with fall colors. I just painted it recently even though fall is long gone.This tree sits on the other side of our fence, I would see this tree lit under the street light and what caught my attention was how well you could see the colors in the tree at night.

This is the third try at getting this painting to look and feel the way I wanted it to.
 I wanted to keep the values close together but with just enough light to barely make out the other objects in the scene.

One night I did this quick 5x7 sketch looking out my window and left it out on the bookshelf to look at to help me plan the painting. It just took a few months to get the courage to do it (fear of failure).