Bernheim Thistle Day

At least once a year I like to visit Bernheim Forest in Bardstown Kentucky.  It is the most beautiful place to walk around and admire the seasons.  The last time I was there I got interested in these gigantic thistles.  They looked like sculpture, only prickly.  I took some pictures but nothing really inspired me to paint until I started thinking about the values of color that day.  It was a picture-perfect fall day.  Clear and crisp with the high contrast of sky blue against the yellows and orange of the trees. 
 I married the structure of the thistle pictures with the idea of the perfect fall day and this is the painting that came out.  The real thistles are kind of a washed out mauve.  (I turned them into the color of the trees)  The entire painting is acrylic and done with a palette knife to get that spiky texture.  Every time I look at it I see that perfect fall day.