the mean season

Everyone I know says Fall is their favourite time of the year. Personally I have a love-hate relationship; her dazzling beauty steals my heart yet, inevitably, her guise steals my light.

October

oil on canvas, 48x60in

copyright Jan Yates, 2014

available

 

October

The leaves were falling on all sides like the last illusions of youth under the tears of irremediable grief. A brood of chattering birds were chasing each other through the shrubberies, and playing games among the branches, like a knot of hiding schoolboys. Every landscape is, as it were, a state of the soul, and whoever penetrates into both is astonished to find how much likeness there is in each detail.

- Henri Frederic Amiel

October

oil on canvas, plein air, 16x20in

 copyright Jan Yates, 2013
available

A few plein air studies

 October, Niagara Escarpment, fog study, oil on canvas, 6x6in

Whenever I change my palette or experiment with new painting tools / approaches, I  tend to start off small...

October, Niagara Escarpment,  plein air study, oil on canvas, 6x6in,  2012

The following is a little heavy-handed but I like it 

October, Niagara Escarpment,  plein air study, oil on canvas, 2012, 6x6in

October

"October gave a party; The leaves by hundreds came- The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples, And leaves of every name. The Sunshine spread a carpet, And everything was grand, Miss Weather led the dancing, Professor Wind the band."
 - George Cooper

 October, Niagara escarpment, plein air study, oil on canvas, 11x14in, available

 "Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit still and watch the leaves turn."
-   Elizabeth Lawrence