Here is “Fall Gratitude.”
You may remember my painting entitled “Gratitude” from earlier this year, which features spring magnolia flowers.
This is the fall iteration of that same theme.
Instead of spring blossoms, the feeling of bursting gratitude is conveyed here with beautiful orange maple leaves.
In the woods near my home where I go walking almost every day, we have big-leaf maple trees that are spectacular in the fall, with gigantic leaves, some of them more than a foot across! I have always thought of maple leaves when they change colors in the fall as the quintessential “fall leaf.”
Detail: Fall Gratitude. 18″ x 36″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2022 Cedar Lee
The beautiful sight never fails to give me a reminder of how wonderful it is to be alive on this earth.
I finished this painting around the Thanksgiving holiday, a time to intentionally dwell on what we’re grateful for.
In this painting, I used myself as the model, but purposely did not include my eyes or any identifying details in the painting.
The absence of specific identifying features makes the image less of a self portrait and more of an anonymous “every woman.”
The painting is full of delicate details.
Thus a human element is shown alongside the nature element, to illustrate the universal human emotion of gratitude for the nature that surrounds us all.
The impact of the painting when seen from across the room is powerful, with the warm orange colors and the bright white light shining from the background.
Contact me if you are interested in the original or a print of this painting!