this afternoon was red in the garden

red cut-leaf Japanese maple leaves

I went out for a little while this afternoon to photograph and turn new materials into the compost. I dumped a shopping bag full of recycling in the blue bin and was amazed to see there was so much color in the trees under the bright blue skies. I spent a few days writing a biography for a new blog I am joining called DC Urban Sketchers. I struggle every time I have to do one of those "brief bios" for a web site or an exhibition. It is hard to tell your story in a few sentences especially with a colorful back ground like mine. So this time I lit it up with more than just the basics. I added some of the not quite fore filled childhood dreams and the grown up nightmares I have survived. Then I edited these great pictures of the garden and trees around the house. There is a lot to tell but not all of it sounds like an artist's bio material. Yet it is part of who I am and that plays into my creative life.

red maple & yellowing hosta leaves 

trash collection came while I was out there and they have a shinny new truck

The autumn is nearly at an end with all the great colors. I am still waiting on the red oaks to color up fully then I look forward to going over to photograph them in the sunny afternoon. We have been lucky this week is mild and very clear skies overhead make the light for colorful leaves just amazing. Even the yellow in the Norway Maple at the side of the house makes a nice image against the blue sky and the dark of the cedar trees by our windows. 

Norway Maple is bright yellow

red chrysanthemums 

Tropicana tea rose's last bloom 

The flowers are almost all gone just the remains of the wild Chinese chrysanthemums are still showing their various colors and this one rose. I took our banana tree out to over winter in Manassas in the basement again this past week. It did really well there last winter and was a delight to draw this summer. We will be missing our gardens colorful display over the coming months. I think even in winter it is interesting with the dried plants and tress showing the bare branches. I posted lots more photos on my flickr page along with some from inside where we have some very pretty flowers in the studio.