TM8582 Praise Poem 36×54 oil on panel
There is nothing like the deeply exuberant palette of autumn. I am in complete awe every year. Praise Poem is my homage to the season and the gentle way it glides into our perception. It is also one of my most abstract interpretations of the phenomena I see at the pond. The details are observed, but the key to the abstraction is the viewpoint and tight focus – low and close to the water. The accidental effects and scrapings from the monoprint techniques used in the base layer were allowed to show through with little additional work beyond glazing. The floating leaves and reflected sky were carefully defined, but restraint was my mantra. Details below. Enjoy.
TM8582 Praise Poem – detail from top edge showing reflected over-hanging leaves in shadows, surface riffles, floating leaves
TM8582 Praise Poem – detail from upper center with reflections (patterns achieved using monoprint techniques in the base layer followed by transparent glazes)
TM8582 Praise Poem – detail from center
TM8582 Praise Poem – detail from lower right with falling and curling leaves, reflections
Teri Malo Studio 
These are really gorgeous. Your painting looks like a photograph. It was very hard to tell without looking closely at them. I love the way you interpreted the light and the fall colours.
Thank you. Many photos inform the paintings, part of my attempt to capture the reality of a particular place while exploring the unseen reality as well.
I understand that very well. It’s a composition in the true sense of the word. Best wishes.
Always amazing, your work. The depth and colours. I can understand why you like autumn, the reds and oranges give such an amazing contrast.
Thank you for the positive feedback. Something unexplainable happens when all those warm colors suddenly appear. It’s also a puzzle – how to paint autumn without being trite, garish, or too much like a calendar. And how to paint time passing….more to come.
Really masterful! So much poetry here. They call to mind Monet’s waterlily paintings for me, although a different palette.
Thank you Kathy. I won’t deny that Monet’s cycle of water lilies (which are really pondscapes, in my book) are part of the inspiration, especially after my first “live” viewing of the Monet late paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts. They haunted me. Now I more fully understand the tightrope they walk between representation and abstraction. It is the fuzzy line between both realms that offers a fine challenge.