Shrooms and 8 X 10 Colored Pencil on Pastelboard

This small new piece was finished last week.  The reference came about on a wonderful August day which was spent with my oldest Granddaughter Cora on her first Plein Air Painting day with me.  At the time she was just 7 and really enjoyed our day at Sunday Park in Brandermill.  These colorful little mushrooms were growing after a pretty wet week here, just loving the moist understory of oak trees sharing the spot with a small creeping ground cover.  (of which I haven't identified)

I actually started this piece as a demo back in Sept. at an outdoor art show, and worked on it for just minutes that day and on each of the 3 consecutive shows thereafter.  I find that having a sample of my artwork helps people to understand that it is indeed colored pencil on board.  Some have actually argued with me that it's not.  So this is much easier.  Since I was busy with the holidays and commission pieces this little gem was neglected until now.  The original reference was great on the details of the mushrooms but really bad on the dark forest floor, so I had fun winging it, and just plain old recreating the area from my mental notes and sketches from that outing.  I just love turning a leave and drawing folds.

So here you go, it always bugs me when I don't immediately finish a piece.   Enjoy the small things in your life today!