Got back Wednesday from spending three days painting in the Smokies. It was wonderful - the color was amazing, brilliant golds just surrounding you. My biggest problem was deciding on a subject to paint. The painting on the bottom shows it, too. Too much going on, not simplifyed as it should have been.

The one on the top I did in Cades Cove, racing the sunset. Being in the valleys was a problem: the mountains shade them, so you only have a couple or three hours in the middle of the day when it was full daylight there. Cades Cove was good because it was so open. I painted next to the road, and I think the tourists going by thought I was one of the attractions, like the deer and the wild turkeys. Just some exotic species to photograph. ("and here's the crazy woman we saw, who was painting the field...next slide, please-") I even got video taped by a park ranger for a podcast they were planning for how people use the park.

Tannehill paintout Alabama Plein Air Artists

This is one of the paintings that I did Saturday at the Tannehill paintout, and I think it's the best one. The light was wonderful and the leaves were luminous- only the gnats and the yellowjackets were a problem.

Pam C. painting the same view.

Pam again. I really admire her determination to learn to paint, and to learn to paint well.

Glenda Adams working away, painting the mill. Barbara Davis chose to hide in the bush, for some reason. We had a great turnout, and I so enjoyed seeing my friends to catch up on all the news of their art doings, and their families and children. Glenda has THE most adorable grandchild ever. (well, we tell her that, anyway-).

Off to the Smokies that afternoon. Made it as far as my Dad's house in North Alabama and spent the night. He was happy to see me, I think. Spent the night and was off the next morning to the mountains to paint and do some leaf peeping.

Painting with the Tuscaloosa women's painters..

Our local painting group went to Moundville, Al, and painted out last week. This is what I turned out that morning. The weather was glorious, and we had a very good turnout. I'm not sure if I like this one or not. The golden green of sun shinging through leaves is hard for me to get without it turning into a sort of bilious green.

We had a terrific meal afterwards at Miss Melissa's Cafe. Wonderful food, great prices. Then I began to look for my keys. And I looked. And my friends looked. Finally someone had to take me twenty minutes back to my house to get my extra keys. It turns out someone else in our group had thrown them in her purse, thinking they were hers. I really was thankful that my friend Pam was there to ferry me back and forth to get my keys. I was also grateful that I wasn't 300 miles from home. I made sure I had an extra key to hang around my neck on my trip to the Smokies- just in case.