Fall Forest

This image is available for sale on ebay
http://www.ebay.com/itm/261631036502?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Fall is my favorite time of year. Houstonians finally get some relief from the heat that plagues us 6-7 months. There's a saying that Houston has two seasons: hot and hotter. Although some people up north are experiencing their first snow fall, we're grateful in the south to be out of the 90s. We've yet to receive a cold front but the two cool fronts that have managed to reach us feel great.

This painting was made in honor of this time of year. I love October because the September heats are over and the holiday hype has not kicked in. It's the time to get outside and enjoy the parks. You can expect to see a lot more photography on this blog in the weeks to come.

This ACEO (Art Card Edition and Originals) is almost shown in the actual size. There is only one rule for an ACEO and that rule is that it must be 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" or the standard size of a baseball card or deck of cards.
 I love painting miniature art like ACEOs because they are challenging. Not everyone can paint skillfully so small. "Sure, we're always impressed when a work of art is huge but it is also equally impressive when an artist can show skill at the miniature level." (That's actually a quote from an art history book!)

I painted this with watercolors on 140 pound Strathmore paper. I then added gouache paint to the trees in the foreground. Gouache paint is an opaque watercolor paint that used to be called the 'student's paint' because it was so cheap and easy to mix. Several famous artists (like Jacob Lawrence for one) have made it more famous so it's not as cheap as it used to be. Artists in India have used gouache for centuries in their manuscripts so it is not just an American paint. I love this paint because it is so versatile and mixes well with other media. It allows me to keep the translucent background while painting the foreground thick like a dense forest.

thanks for looking and please check it out on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/261631036502?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649