Watercolor Painting: Autumn Light

California is graced with unusually warm Fall weather. Now that we're in the midst of a cold and rainy winter, I'm looking back on this painting from November and realizing how lucky I was. As the leaves change color, and the days get shorter, the temperature around 4:00 pm rarely drops below 50°F. This is great, because I'm able to capture the beautiful autumn light with big color washes that dry in under 20 minutes. Warmer weather means faster drying times. Furthermore, the golden hour window is approximately 30 minutes (between 4 and 4:30). After that, I have to stop. The light is completely different.

Check out the animated gif below!