Fall in Central Minnesota

This painting was developed from a photo reference of a hike I took in September of 2025 at the Rockville County park. I was prospecting for some ideas for a series I am hoping to complete called "pathways". I love to hike easy, 2-4 mile loop trails when the weather is cooperative. As part of my year long study of pastels and composition, I wanted to land a painting that had light dappling through the trees.  Spring and Fall are amazing seasons to see this in the woods-especially when the trail is surrounding by dense woods. My intention was to go back on a day where I had more time to paint, but I didn't make it back to the trail. I was thankful to have the photo reference to at least practice some ideas. This painting also features texture that was created by utilizing a thickened acrylic paint to raise some of the tree trunks and the foreground textures. I underpainted this with dark pastels and alcohol--this gave me a good start to create some of the depth.