Fishing and painting week in upstate Pa.

We had a wonderful week of fishing on this trip, the weather was fantastic with the temps starting in the high 30's in the mornings and getting in the mid 60's in the afternoon.
I did some painting early in the morning before we left for the streams and again at dusk when we got back.

When we arrived on Monday afternoon we noticed the maple was still green with a touch of red leaves at the top.

After we got settled in I set up my cigar box easel to do a sketch of the mountain and pine trees at sunset.

I liked the way the tip of the mountain and clouds were lit up with the last rays of sunlight.
This is a 5x7 on canvas board. All paintings were done in acrylics this year.

The streams were a little low this year so we had to take a stealthy approach so we didn't spook the fish before we could cast.

Sometimes long casts were necessary if we couldn't get close.

I did a sketch of a tree and fall leaves as the sun came up one morning.

And when we got back from fishing I did a sketch of a pine tree catching the last rays of the sun.

Each night we had a sky filled with stars and the moon, Tues night we watched the meteor shower.

It was a great trip, I have some material to work with this winter.

And the maple tree in the yard that was green when we got there had turned completely red, now we can go home.

Working with acrylics

My brother and I are heading upstate for our annual fly fishing trip tomorrow. I am going to take the acrylics with me and hope to get in a good amount of painting. I like the idea of not having a lot of wet paintings laying around like I would with oils.

I have been practicing with acrylics trying to get used to them again.
I used a sketch from 2004 at a local park as reference. The morning was foggy with the sun trying to burn thru.

My wife and I went up the Poconos looking at the fall colors, while we were waiting at a light I snapped a picture of a group of trees reflected in a pond.

8x10 acrylic

The Start of Autumn

The Start of Autumn  8x10 oil

A scene showing that brief period between the end of summer and the beginning of autumn.
Saying goodbye to the warm days of summer and awaiting autumn's last hurrah.
I used a reference photo from last year when we were at Promised Land State Park in the Poconos.
We try to go up at least once in October each year to see the color and do a little fishing.

Maria and I went up  Promised Land today to take in the fall foliage.  It was a little cold in the morning, 41 degrees but it did warm up to 56 in the afternoon.

Oh yea, we did take the fishing rods too, Maria caught a nice bass across from the boat rentals.

Tobyhanna Lake