There’s something delightful about the way autumn light filters through the trees — it’s softer, warmer … something of a soothing balm. And amid all this, you meet with a rich display of colored pageantry in all the trees and the hedgerows.

When I began this painting, I had in mind to use a special warmth of color scheme I had admired in another artist’s painting. But I was not intending to push an Autumnal effect; it came about accidentally, as many effects can in artwork. I wanted to capture that exact moment when the low sun turns ordinary leaves into a golden canopy. 

I started with a neutral underpainting to set the shapes and composition, letting the ochres and rich siennas peek through in the final layers. That glow in the grasses is a mix of gold and soft greens, with a few quick, dancing strokes for the late wildflowers. Perhaps those wildflowers are a bit of license for the time of year, but they somehow seemed to fit, even after the stage when I realised the Autumn effect that had taken over the scene!

I blocked in the large shapes first — the mass of golden leaves, the shadowed path, the bright meadow beyond. For the trees, I used soft, broken edges so the leaves could dissolve into the sky. The foreground grasses got brisk, vertical strokes to catch that late-afternoon light, and I layered hints of white and soft yellow for the wildflowers going to seed.

I kept the figure in the distance small and subtle — just enough to suggest a quiet walk, maybe someone savoring the day’s last light in a prayerful moment. Sometimes just a little person on a path can help with the whole scale and story of a simple painting — it doesn’t have to be detailed, but a suggestion can be just enough to make the viewer feel part of the scene. That gated field in the foreground hints at more paths to explore, but for now, let’s linger here in the quiet of a golden moment.

I think that’s why I keep painting scenes like this — not for the grand vistas, but for the quiet corners of the countryside that invite one to slow down, and think. And in the rich warmth of all that stillness, Someone meets you inside.