Cosy autumn scenes from my sketchbook

for the weary and stressed out soul

In my neck of the woods autumn has two faces.

There is the beauty of nature shaking out it’s sheets to get ready for a long winter sleep. Brightly coloured leaves dancing in the wind. Lanes of red, orange and yellow, greeting you on your walk to the supermarket. Long shadows in the middle of the day on the odd occasion that the sun decides to peek through the thick cloud cover. The sound of geese as they fly in V’s overhead.

But then there are also the drenched commuters. Another umbrella shoved into a rubbish bin on your way to the bus stop. Night giving way to grey, just to be swallowed again at the end of the day. A musty smelling wash trying it’s absolute best to dry on the line, yet failing once again.

But the beauty, oh the beauty!

At one point this last month I realised that autumn was just passing me by. I had gotten used to the wet towels in the bathroom and my jeans sticking to my knees, as I cycle in yet another drizzle. One morning I was cycling through the park in my still drying jeans, taking the kids to school. Pops of colour were peeking out from a mist so thick that it left my glasses wet. I realised that I have been missing the beauty that is nature going through a phase of incessant change.

So we cooked soups and stews with pumpkins, turnips, carrots and leeks. And I took my sketchbook on walks, promising myself that I will make a point of noticing the beauty in the small things - multicoloured leaves, misty reflections in streams, the glory of the gingko biloba’s yellow leaves against a payne’s grey sky…

Friendly people passed me by as I sketched these scenes:

Three generations of women, the oldest in a wheelchair, stopping to see what I am doing, and on hearing my slight accent, reminiscing on a life changing vacation from years ago.

A young boy’s hand slipping from his fathers as he stopped in his tracks, “What a beautiful painting, mam!”

A hunched over gentleman lifting his cap, “It’s so inspiring!” (I’m still not sure whether he meant the painting, the fact that I was painting right there in the park, or just the beauty of the sun’s yellow rays among the long tree trunk shadows.)

Yes, there is beauty in people too, just go look in nature, that is where the good ones tend to hang out.

And then there is this cabin in the woods, where my favourite took me for our anniversary. He cooked me a slow meal on a wood stove, while I sketch the last rays of the day, shining on the tree tops with a chorus of birds and frogs on the gentle breeze.

Beauty can still be found in the changing of seasons, one just needs to remember to look.

Thank you for reading and looking. May you see the beauty in the world around you, even in these uncertain times.

Nino