Portraits, Landscapes, & Commissioned Masterpieces in Oil

It was an overcast day in October and I was looking for a place to paint, that while offering me shelter, would also provide a lot of light. Foliage season is upon us and painting these colors is a challenge. I remember sitting in on a critique of paintings at art school, and the instructor commented on a fellow students work. He called it a tide die explosion of color and that was not a compliment. That description struck a nerve and I vowed to never have a tide die painting. 

The Mass Audubon's North River Wildlife Sanctuary in Marshfield was a perfect location. I walked all the way out onto the dock/viewing platform and took in the colors of the grass, trees, water and distant red barn from the old railroad that once crossed the North River. The challenge was to get a painting before I got rained on. I never start a painting without laying out my composition first, then I do a sketch, and finally begin the piece. Fortunately it all worked out, and while trying to work with a limited pallet, I was able to achieve a small painting that represented my experience at the end of that dock.