Nothing says ‘Autumn’ quite as much as pumpkins, even the little munchkins! Whether out in the garden or inside on a table, they always bring a splash of welcome colour into our lives as the days become shorter and greyer.
Munchkin Pumpkin
Author: grahamfindlaywatercolours
I am an artist and teacher based in the Cotswolds, United Kingdom.
Blood Red
Growing silently and unmolested by any unwanted intruders in the vegetable garden, this is the largest, so far, of a row of North Holland Blood Red onions. I always like to paint any produce like this whether it is from the garden or brought home from the shops. I particularly liked the range of colors from dark red, through Burnt Sienna, white and greens on the stem. It also has very white roots.
Ice House
Ice houses were used to store ice in the days before the invention of refrigerators. They were perhaps a status-symbol to impress one’s guests by being able to offer them ice-creams in the summer. Be that as it may, Ice houses have been around for a long time and were often built as underground chambers close to the source of winter ice. Apparently during winter the ice was carved out from the river in rather larger cubes than those we would recognize today, taken to the Ice house and packed with straw as insulation. How it worked I don’t know, but it is said the ice remained frozen for many months.
This one is to be found in woodland on the Sherborne Estate in Gloucestershire, (National Trust property), and is easy to miss on your walk around the grounds if you are not expecting it.
CONKERS
Horse Chestnuts, or ‘Conkers’ are always a welcome sign of Autumn, and I can never resist painting them, especially when they are all bright and shiny, straight from their shells..
I make a grey from French Ultramarine and Burnt Sienna for their tops and Burnt Sienna plays a vital roll in their chestnut colour, lightened with a yellow, darkened with violet. These are in my sketchbook 8×5 inches
Rudbeckias
The Rudbeckias are doing most of the work supplying colour in the garden at the moment. There are other things but none as brash or self-assertive as these tall brightly coloured flowers. There are some marigolds which can compete in colour but not so much in height. They do very well in their own little world.
I wanted to paint these before they succumb to the weather and lose their petals.
Grow house Tomatoes
Although these Tomatoes have their roots firmly in the grow house (a miniature glass-house for those not so horticulturally disposed), they have grown enthusiastically enough to be bursting out of it in all directions, and this vine has become rather top-heavy. The late Summer or early Autumn sun has them ripening by the day and their colour changing almost as one looks at them.
Shepherds Hut
A sketch of an old Shepherd’s Hut which I am hoping to work up into a larger painting in the not too distant future, once I have finished some other things I am working on.
Cheeky little thing
This little character has been standing, minding his own business in a cabinet at home for years, without me noticing him. My eye was probably drawn more to the assortment of teapots which surround him. I wonder if he is Dickensian, but there is nothing whatever to indicate who he may be or from where he came. But now I have discovered him, I love drawing him. I have no idea what he is holding. I thought at first it could be a microphone, but if he is Dickensian, I don’t think it can be!
All the greys here are variations of French Ultramarine and Burnt Sienna. His face and hands are from Yellow Ochre and Permanent Rose. His hair, purely Burnt Sienna.
On the vine
Our Tomatoes have finally decided to ripen. They could do with a few more days of sunshine really as there are still a lot of green ones. At the moment we have rain and dark skies, so perhaps we will be making chutney soon!
Moleskine watercolour notebook 5×8 ” (13x21cm) portrait format
Imperial Gardens
Sketched in Imperial Gardens behind the Town Hall in Cheltenham at the beginning of the week, while waiting for the car to be serviced. Very colourful and looking especially nice in the sunshine. The good weather is meant to stay until mid-week and then go downhill.
Graham Findlay Watercolours 