Autumn leaves aborted

Autumn has come and although Sydney is less colourful than colder climes, there are still beautiful earth colours to be seen. There is a street not far from our house where they have only crepe myrtles as street trees. In winter it is bare. In spring, they are simply gorgeous laden with red, pinks and purple flowers. Their twisted trunks are worthy of a picture alone. In autumn, they shed their leaves in brillant yellows, browns and reds.

Inspired to capture these trees, I set off one cold day and parked on the street. It has been showering on and off, so I daren't set up plein air but drew in the car instead. I realised that it was vital to capture the background before painting in these trees but by the time I was done with the houses and the road, and median strip, etc it was time to go.

Since then, there has been a series of awful windy and wet days and when I next had a chance to continue, the leaves had mostly fallen off!!!

As my daughter says: "You can't always get what you want"