California impressionist landscape painting – Autumn on the Trail – La Canada Flintridge Art by Karen Winters


“Autumn on the Trail”
Flint Canyon Trail, La Canada Flintridge, California
Near Pasadena’s Arroyo Seco

11 x 14 inches
oil on canvas

See more California trail paintings here

The equestrian and jogging trails that wind through La Canada Flintridge are overhung with sycamore, oak and eucalyptus trees. In the fall the colors meld and fairly glow with the warm light. This stretch of trail is near Berkshire Avenue, and is popular with hikers, joggers and horseback riders alike.

The fun part of painting this, for me, was rendering the different textures of bark, turning leaves, green foliage, etc. Sycamores have a distinctively different look from eucalyptus trees, and their bark reflects light in a different way. In an area like this, the bright light is bouncing off the fallen leaves and reflecting up into the trunks and branches in interesting ways. I decided to restrict this painting to a secondary triadic color scheme (orange, green, violet) which was natural for the time of year.

To learn more about La Canada Trails, visit The La Canada Trails Council website

Comments

  1. Amy Higgins
    August 19, 2011

    I always love how you capture darks and lights. Makes me want to take a nap in the shadows!

  2. Karen
    August 19, 2011

    Thank you, Amy!

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