I’m grateful to live right across the street from Glover Archbold Park. For a painter of flora there is no better place to live. Almost every day I walk the trails and almost every day the park looks different depending upon the season, the time of day, and even the weather. This painting is based on photographs taken in Autumn at sunset, under a sky streaked with clouds.

The setting sun and clouds lit up the sky with brilliant orange and yellow colors, which were duplicated in the river. The leaves on the forest floor and the trunks of the trees, ordinarily rather drab at this time of year, were bathed in a warm glow, radiating from the sky.

This part of the forest is dominated by beech (Fagus grandifolia) and tulip trees (Liriodendron tulipifera), which do not display dramatic colors in autumn as some other trees do, such as maple and ash trees. But the setting sun and clouds challenged the maples in color for a few brief minutes. I was delighted to justify using my cadmium orange paint.