Saturday, November 17, 2012

colors so bright




































A color stands abroad
On solitary hills 
That silence cannot overtake,
But human nature feels.
- Emily Dickinson

Is there such a thing in nature as colors that are too intense? As I go out on the Prairie Path with my dog for our daily run I find myself reacting to the fall colors with an emotional intensity. The Reds! and the Golds! and the nearly fluorescent Oranges! It almost hurts my eyes to look too long.
I am fortunate to live now in this Midwestern part of the country where the fall colors appear every year , always surprising and stunning.  The brilliance is so much so suddenly, and behind that the knowledge that soon everything will be a monochromatic winter gray. The colors make me want to weep with joy or sob with longing.
Painting above is from my outdoor "en plien air" trip with oils and easel earlier this fall.