Autumn Afternoon

Autumn Afternoon
Acrylic on gessobord
8”x10”
Chris Breier © 2017

We're heading into Autumn which is one of my favorite seasons. The saturated colors and the longer shadows make for more dramatic landscapes. I sometimes feel as though the colors in my painting are exaggerated but some of the colors found in nature are even brighter. On occasion I'll be walking through the woods and I'll stumble upon a scene that seems like magic- in this scene it was the saturated yellow greens of grass and the long shadows that stopped me in my tracks.

Through the Trees

Through the Trees
Acrylic on gessobord
8"x10"
Chris Breier © 2017

I was walking around Island Park at dusk and I looked up and I noticed I could see the steeple from Saints Paul & Peter Church on Main street. Normally it's not visible when the leaves are on the trees but this was in fall. I never thought to paint the church from this vantage point. I quickly framed the steeple between the two center branches of the tree. I later used the photo references to complete the painting in my studio. This painting is available.

Buffalo Theatre District in Autumn

Buffalo Theatre District in Autumn
Acrylic on gessobord
10" x 8"
Chris Breier © 2017

Last fall I had an afternoon off from work and I spent the day walking around downtown Buffalo looking for subject matter to paint. I turned the day into a photo expedition, it's generally easier to paint city scenes in the studio. It would be impossible to set up my easel in the middle of the street to capture this perspective. The warm colors from the foliage add some much needed warm contrasts to the cool shadows created by the buildings.

Audubon Sunrise

Audubon Sunrise
Acrylic on Raymar canvas panel
8"x10"
Chris Breier © 2017

This painting was something of an experiment with color. I had a photograph that had a pleasing composition but the colors were boring because of the overcast–so I decided to invent my own color scheme. I used mostly yellow oxide, orange, and purple. I was a little concerned that it would come out too colorful but neutralized some of the brighter oranges with the purple. The original painting is for sale through email $160 plus $10 shipping USPS priority mail with the standard insurance ($50).

Red Maple

Red Maple
Watercolor and ink on paper
8"x10"
Chris Breier © 2016

I was taking a stroll through the woods this past fall and most of the foliage was various shades of yellow and orange, but when I turned the corner I was confronted with this bright red maple tree–the color was extraordinary. I took a couple of reference photographs to paint from and I played around with different compositions. I settled on positioning the path so it would curve around the trees in the foreground and lead right to the red maple tree. Below are some photographs of it at various stages of completion. The original painting is for sale.

November Tree

Acrylic on paper
8”x10”
Chris Breier © 2016

The original painting is for sale. Another tree from the same location as yesterday–the park behind the botanical gardens. I used dark purples a small amount of orange on the trunk of the tree. I also used the orange to indicate some of the leaves that were still clinging to the branches.

Waiting for Winter

Waiting for Winter

5”x7”

Ink and watercolor on paper

Chris Breier © 2016

The original painting is for sale. Winter came late this year, November and December were mostly snowless which allowed me to get outdoors to take some photos to work from. This tree can be found at the park behind the erie county botanical gardens.

Trees

Trees

Acrylic on wood panel

8”x10”

Chris Breier © 2016

The original painting is available. For this painting I focused upon the abstract qualities of the tree. I used thin washes of acrylics on the background to create a watercolor effect and to help make the branches stand out. What makes thems really “pop” though are the thin highlights along the edges.

Woods

Woods

Acrylic on wood panel

8”x10”

Chris Breier © 2016

The original painting is available. I created the shapes of the trees by the light blue of the sky around the branches. For the color scheme I played the blue purples off the greens and oranges of the forest floor. I used washes of acrylic paint in the beginning and then switched to thicker opaque acrylic towards the end.

Olmstead Vista

Olmstead Vista
Watercolor and gouache on paper
5”x7”
Chris Breier © 2016

The original painting is for sale. The park surrounding the Botanical Gardens, which includes a small lake, was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. The weather was warmer than usual that day, but the cold winds made it clear that winter was just around the corner.

Lakeside

Lakeside
Watercolor and ink on paper
5”x7”
Chris Breier © 2016

The original painting is for sale. Can you spot the picnic table in this painting? At first I wasn’t going to include it but I realized that it could be used to create a sense of scale–it can be used to judge the height of the tree. I used mostly secondary colors in this painting (orange, green, and purple). The warmer colors were used on the trees in the distance which works well against the dark purple shadows in the foreground. 

Trail at Walton Woods

Trail at Walton Woods
Watercolor and ink on paper
5” x 7”
Chris Breier © 2015

The original painting is for sale. Fall is a good time of year to for painting lakes, I enjoy creating the mirror like reflection of the colorful leaves on the water. I managed to work in a small touch of red on the left, it’s an effective contrast to the tuft of green foliage on the right.

Autumn Leaves

autumn leaves
Watercolor and ink on paper
5” x 7”
Chris Breier © 2015

The original painting is for sale. I took a more abstract approach with this painting of Lake Audubon, I exaggerated the colors and used a looser approach with the drawing. I enjoy listening to podcasts and music while I paint and you may recognize the title of this painting as a jazz standard.

Evergreens

Evergreens
Watercolor on paper
5” x 7”
Chris Breier © 2015

The original painting is for sale. While most of the trees have brightly colored leaves or lost their leaves at this time of year, the evergreens in this painting add a nice splash of green to the landscape. I especially like the contrast of the bare branches in the foreground with the bright greens of the grass and the evergreen trees across the lake. I also decided to make the surface of the water appear more calm than it actually was.

Tree and Clouds

Tree and Clouds
Watercolor on paper
5” x 7”
Chris Breier © 2015

The original painting is for sale. I may have an obsession with painting tree branches, I like the patterns and the colors the mix of warm and cool colors. For the bark I  used a combination of browns and purples, and I used gouache to highlight the lighter areas of the branches.

Sunday Afternoon

Sunday Afternoon
Watercolor and ink on paper
5”x7”
Chris Breier © 2015

The original painting is available. I waited until a warm fall day to visit Lake Audubon to take a walk. I brought my camera with me to take reference photos and I used them to create a series of small watercolor paintings. They were created with a similar technique, I first sketched out the scene in ink and when it dried I added washes of watercolor. The paper is Fabriano Artistico hot press which has a smooth surface that works well for drawing with and ink pen; it also allows for subtle watercolor effects.

Sunlit Trees

Sunlit Trees
Acrylic on Gessobord
8”x10”
Chris Breier © 2015

The original painting is for sale.

I was walking around my neighborhood while the sun was setting and I noticed that the red orange glow was illuminating the tree in the background but not the one in the foreground. I thought this would make an interesting contrast in a painting. I cropped the image down so that the branches would create an abstract pattern over the entire surface of the painting.

The lighting at this time of day changes rapidly, if I had been a few minutes later the trees in the background wouldn't have had the same dramatic lighting effect. Ideas for paintings are everywhere, but they can be fleeting. That's why I try to take my camera with me as much as possible.

Pine Cone

Pine Cone
Acrylic on archival paper
8” x 10”
Chris Breier © 2015

The original painting is available.
Pine cones are a recurring theme for me. I found the background was more difficult to paint than the pine cone itself. I repainted it a few times because flat areas of color can be boring so I tried out a few different approaches; I wanted to create subtle brush marks without it becoming too distracting. The pine cone was fun to paint, the depth was created by the contrast of the dark interior and the light beige of the outer edges. The opacity of acrylic paint made it easier to refine the outer edges of the pine cone by cutting into them with the lighter color of the background. The quick drying times of acrylics are a benefit when it comes to painting over mistakes.

You may also be interested in my iPad drawing of a pine cone.