It was a great fall weekend full of cool weather, a fire in the fireplace, soup for lunch, football games and raking leaves. 
Many of the leaves on our trees that change to yellow in autumn are changing and falling.
Raking is always hard work but it’s a great excuse to get outside when the temps are cool.
Soon the oranges and reds will take over the landscapes.
Hope you were able to get out into the wild and enjoy this fall season!
Terri
I was hoping we would get a chance to go hiking again last weekend, but we had too many other things to do.
So I settled for exploring in our yard.
It’s always fun to take notice of the variety of colors in Autumn while there’s still green leaves on the trees.
I noticed of a lot of red, orange and yellow, so it was fun to compose my photos with those combinations.
Our lawn was practically carpeted in leaves of all sizes, shapes, colors, and random overlaps.
I’m usually excited at the beginning of each season, but once leaf peeping is past and most of the leaves are on the ground, I feel a little sad, missing that foliage which provides cover in our backyard park. My mom pointed out to me a couple years ago that it’s nice to be able to admire the architecture of trees when the leaves start falling.
That idea really stuck with me, so once I’m tired of drawing leaves, I look forward to practicing drawing tree skeletons without leaves. Seeing something with a fresh perspective keeps me from feeling melancholy about the bareness coming with late fall / early winter.
Thank you for stopping by!
It seems like so many people say Autumn is their favorite season. It really is a great season, isn’t it.
I love to go leaf combing, and pick up acorns too.
There are so many vibrant colors coming out, from leaves on the trees and on the ground to pumpkins peppers mums and asters.
I love to go hiking again, after a hiatus during the hot, buggy summer months.
I love how quiet things get. Life is still busy, but it has gotten cold at night, so we’ve closed all our windows. Many birds have begun their migration, so it’s really peaceful feeling.
I’ve been finding some great fall nature-related craft projects lately.
It feels cozy to wear wool socks again and layer long-sleeved shirts and sweaters.
It’s a great time to make chili or stew in the crock pot. Yum!
It’s apple season, and I adore apple crisp and homemade chunky applesauce, especially when my mom makes it.
Halloween is such a fun holiday, with the costumes, candy, decorations, pumpkin carving and scary movies.
What do you love about Autumn?
Thanks for stopping by!
Remember the other day when I shared with you my process for doing a sketchbook page?
I wasn’t completely satisfied with what I thought was my “final” page of birch leaves, so I added a background color and a frame.
What a difference that made! Now this page is officially finished and I am happy with it. Thanks for all your feedback and nice comments on my process post. I will definitely plan to do that more often.
I love leaves.
I love leaves so much that I am constantly picking them up in our yard or on the trail, saving them for inspiration. I often find leaves tucked in books and sketchbooks.
I’m so happy with how this drawing of scattered leaves turned out. I picked a random leaf from my pile and drew it on my page using graphite pencils.
I added the names of the trees these leaves fell from in my cursive writing, which seems to be a dying art these days.
I love working on compositions like this. I just wish it hadn’t taken me so long to finish.
I need to work on staying focused on one project at a time, in spite of all the ideas swirling around in my head and all the inspiration out there in the world.
What a wonderful feeling to have a peaceful, quiet day. No place to be, no time clock to punch, no deadlines to meet.
I spent most of my day off being domestic, doing a little cleaning, a little laundry, a little cooking (chicken pot pie for dinner!), and a little baking (chocolate chip cookies for dessert!). It’s been a long time since I’ve had a quiet day all to myself – what a treat. Hope you’re finding some peace and quiet these days too.
We didn’t plant any fall flowers in our garden this year, so it’s been nice to see our roses continuing to bloom.
The flowers on our hydrangea trees have changed from white to rose – so lovely!
It’s also nice to continue to see green on the trees while we still have leaves.
Some of the leaves have started to fall to the ground, dotting the green grass with a confetti of colors.
I’m starting to see flocks of geese flying in formations as they prepare to migrate south, and our birdhouses are quiet.
The quietness of Autumn is starting to settle in.
Earlier this summer, I filled up a page of Flower-A-Day thumbnail drawings. What a fun exercise that was in drawing a variety of flowers and creating a cool composition on a page.
Lately I’ve been working on leaf drawings, scattering them about the page, as if they are falling from the trees, blowing in the Autumn wind, landing randomly on the pages of my sketchbook.
I have to admit I haven’t had much of a creative mojo lately – hope you haven’t noticed! I feel like it’s starting to creep back, little by little, so I am loving this project. Hope you’re still sticking around!
Thanks for all the travel bag love! I really appreciate you all stopping by and taking the time to leave such nice comments.
We had a nice weekend visiting my parents in Milwaukee, from a successful shopping spree for a few mix and match outfits for my mom to seeing the Cinderella ballet. I wanted to take a picture of the ballerinas’ costumes, but photography wasn’t allowed in the theater. Trust me, they lit up the stage, making it beautiful.
I didn’t feel like raking when we got back home. Instead, I took a couple pictures of the fall colors still left. We saw some colorful leaves glowing in our backyard and along the road sides, but the peak has past, and now we’re starting to see more bare trees. Boo hoo!
For the week ahead, other than a few boring meetings at work (which are a good time to practice my drawing or just doodle), and my usual exercise routine on Monday and Wednesday nights, I am already looking forward to next Saturday – Halloween! We have to pick up candy for the trick-or-treaters, and carve our pumpkins. I might even wear a costume this year! I am hoping to have time to work on a fall table runner and another wonky star block, in red this time to go along with the green one I made recently. Hope you all have a happy week!
