Autumn Vibes

I’m writing this with the absolute knowledge that all of the leaves have already fallen off the cherry tree in the garden. Some might say that I’ve almost missed autumn, but I absolutely love autumnal colours and have been meaning to paint them – and write about them – for the best part of 2 months. So please humour me while I talk you through these pieces 😋

Autumn Berries

Like much of my artwork, this one began with a walk. I was on my way to the meadow in October when I was absolutely mesmerised by the bright red berries in the hedgerow. I had been in my own little world as I went through the gate leading to the track and these colourful fruits snapped me straight back to reality. It was a surprisingly good mindfulness tool. 

As I’d initially walked straight past, I did a double-take and looked back at them to get a proper view. I quickly glanced around past the gate and saw a couple of other walkers were not far behind me so I scurried off, not wanting to embarrass myself by retracing my steps to look at some berries.

I made a mental note that I had to take a photo of the berries the next time I walked past them though. And that’s exactly what I did.

Acer Tree Leaves

We’re very lucky to have a beautiful acer tree in the garden. Its characteristic leaves turn all sorts of colours in autumn so, when I came back from a longer walk earlier in November, I went straight to the garden and took some photos of it in all its autumnal glory. 

In the process of doing this, I seriously confused my two cats. They live in a room on the ground floor that looks out onto the garden and therefore have full view of what goes on out there. As soon as she saw me, my female cat – Jolene, a beautiful black cat – jumped straight up onto the window sill and bobbed her head up and down, looking at me. Trying to work out how I got there. My male cat – Claude, a very large white and grey tabby mix (think snow leopard meets snowman) – just looked at me from his bed and meowed. 

Despite confusing the cats, I knew that the acer had to be added to my autumn collection. The reds and purples are just too beautiful to be missed.

Beautiful Blackberries

My penultimate piece is another berry. That juicy autumn berry that you find on hedgerows everywhere at the right time of year. I took the photo for this one in early November as well so I was surprised to see that some of the blackberries were still red. To be honest, from the many local walks I’ve done with my partner this year, the blackberries seem to ripen much earlier than I remember from childhood. We talked many times about picking some but seemed to miss the boat when we didn’t do it in September!

I loved painting the reds, purples and blacks in this piece. The contrast between the unripe, ripening, and totally ripe berries is, I think, a true symbol of autumn. 

Snowberries

I don’t understand how I’ve lived on this planet for nearly thirty years without knowing that a plant called a snowberry existed. Lots of plants have complicated names that are difficult to remember, but, when I looked up this final plant that had caught my eye, I couldn’t believe it was so simple. Snowberry. The berries look like snowballs. So they’re called snowberries.

I spotted these on the way back through town and, like the others, their striking shapes and colours caught my eye. The bright white contrasts beautifully against the greens.

I might be cheating a bit with this one. It’s not necessarily strictly autumnal but it does emerge in November so I’m going to say that counts. We’re nearly in winter so I doubt it matters anyway!

Materials & shop

I used Winsor & Newton Cotman watercolours and Faber Castell Polychromos pencils for each piece and they all now exist in my Autumn Collection on Redbubble 😊