Another beautiful fall day at Oatlands

I went back to Oatlands to be a plein-air painter during the Loudoun Sketch Club's exhibit. This was the fourth and last scheduled time I signed up for, but I know I'll be going back to paint at Oatlands often in the future! Everywhere you look is a potential painting. I used to paint there a lot in the early 2000s, when I had an art group in my community called the Centreville Regional Art Guild, and we often went to Oatlands to paint. It's so nice to be part of a group of artists and be able to paint together. Now I go paint with the Loudoun Sketch Club!

Today I set up just about 15 feet to the left of where I painted yesterday, looking in the same direction. From this angle, you can see up a little alley between boxwoods to a low brick building which is used as a greenhouse. (The south side of the building is all glass.) I like this view because of the way the sun made colorful shadows - I chose to include the gravel path in the foreground because I love the colors of sun and shadow on the gravel compared to on the grass. And of course the two Adirondack chairs!

To get the bright yellows and oranges in the backlit leaves, I first laid down a solvent-thinned wash of Cadmium Lemon and Cadmium Orange, then I painted the rest of the painting. By the time I came back to those backlit leaves, the undercoat was dry and I could lay in darker oranges, reds, and greens, leaving some of the bright yellow showing here and there. I hope I was successful!