November Leaves series

I finished the November Leaves series I was working on for Nancy Hillis's Studio Journeys.  I'm used to working in a series, but gave a little more thought to this one along the way.  Working in a series lets me see what habits I get into.  One that popped out at me is that I tend to compose in a circular manner and leave the center open when working in a square format.  So for these last 2 pieces in the series, I made sure I put something in the center and did a more asymettrical compostion.

Some series are tightly related from the beginning and clearly show the theme.  In this one the November leaves idea just served as a jumping off point, and really, my paintings had little related to what November leaves were actually looking like at the time.  That didn't bother me.  To me the important thing is finding inspiration to work and letting one painting inform the next.  At the end though, I did want to include that burst of bright yellow that was still clinging to the trees even late in November.

We're now doing some very exciting color studies which I'll post next week.  After working with these neutrals all month, I'm ready for a new palette.