Do You Know Your Neighbors?

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

Closing Autumn 1924 Willard Metcalf

Fall is often considered a melancholy time of year, but there is always something good for the landscape painter in every change of season. As I was walking around the fall woods this morning, I noticed how many dozens of new burning bushes have been planted by the birds and animals there. The seeds come from shrubs in our yard, and are delicious food for wildlife. Their new presence in the mostly brown undergrowth punctuates the forest with bright splashes of red and turns the previously drab scene into a painting subject. I made a mental note to mark each one with orange tape while the leaves were bright red, so that when I mow in the spring, I won’t hit them.

Recently, one of my students was sharing a personal insight about her growing artistic awareness which had to do with this change of seasons. She remarked that she used to always feel low when fall came because she missed the light and the colors of summer so…