"Hannah's Pumpkin" oil 6 x 12 and the Baobob Tree

variety of pumpkins from a few years ago

 Autumn is here, and as in the last few years has come in fits and starts, changing its mind a few times.   With the arrival of Halloween, and a Nor'easter forecast for the next couple of days, autumn is certainly here.  Halloween: We live on a street where no one trick or treats.. but just down the road is a neighborhood filled with activity every Halloween.  Worked out just right for us while raising our daughter.. we could both head out with her when she was small, and leave a bowl of candy on our porch just in case. 

My pumpkin with animals among the baobob trees

When she was older we spent the evening with friends, carving pumpkins and then heading out for a spooky walk just to be among the hubbub and festivity.  I added a few photos of some of our carvings from these fun evenings.  including a pumpkin I carved with jungle animals amid the baobob trees.  Truth is, I don't know much about baobob trees except that in a back corner of my brain, I knew their system of branches and roots might serve to support the roof of my pumpkin and...  "The Little Prince" mentions them in his famed book by Antoine de Saint Exupery, which I read in French in 6th grade (needless to say, some of the subtleties escaped me), and again as an adult, in English, when some of the subtleties revealed themselves to me.  On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux. ("One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye.")
 So, this month's theme for Girls Just Wanna Paint is "neighbor" which got me thinking about the variety of neighborhoods within a stone's throw, and the Little Prince's neighborhood as well.  My painting for this month is "Hannah's Pumpkin", a quiet moment on a street in our "just down the street" neighborhood before it erupts in Halloween merriment.  Take a look at the rest of Girls Just Wanna Paint entries, very interesting interpretations on the theme.
 As always, thanks for looking and for reading this month's musings. 

"White House" tweaking the image

April's Girls Just Wanna Paint challenge was "white".  I submitted the painting "White House", (to the right) a charming bungalow in a Quincy neighborhood, which I painted from the car while the late afternoon life in the small neighborhood unfolded.  There were joggers, and children on bikes, and commuters walking the few blocks from the bus, and at least two pizza deliveries, and dog walkers, and after-work gardeners.  It was charming. However, the painting needed some tweaking once I got it home.

Shown to the left are the original and then the tweaked painting.  The original painting was too cool, and wasn't conveying the late afternoon light.  The tree was too heavy and its branches stopped arbitrarily along the roof edge, creating unintended geometry.   I spent 20 minutes making a few modifications, simplifying the tree, extending its branches beyond the roof, softening the tree shadow, and warming the sunlit pieces of the house including the brick foundation.  I added some blue to the roof above the porch and added a warm indication of a window or door under the porch, made a few of the houses edges more crisp, and squared off.  Finished.  It reads better, conveys more of a sense of time of day.  Thanks for looking.