It's Friday morning here in Pittsburgh and everyday this week I noticed small patches of trees turning to their fall colors. This tells me that my favorite outdoor hike is just a few weeks away. As you know if you are a regular reader of my blog, I love to hike trails with my camera and take photos to use for my framed oil paintings. I love all my spring and summer "adventures" to death but fall holds more for me.

  When I was a boy I loved how the trees turned color with the leaves falling off, and how the look of the trees changed when they no longer were covered in a mass of foliage. I loved walking over the fallen leaves and hearing all that crunching. It was fascinating to me to wake up in the morning with "winters" cold in the morning and feel "summers" heat later in the afternoon. I like to think this love of nature is one of the main reasons I'm an artist who paints mostly landscapes and seascapes. I took many photos with my old film camera before I was a serious artist but that all changed 3 years ago when I got my digital camera and got serious about my art.

  I go online and look at parks in my area to see where I want to go for my "fall spectacular" around this time. I like to go to a new place as this enhances the journey along with all the beautiful colors. I pay close attention to the weather forcast as I'm looking for the best combination of peak color and sunshine. This year here in my Pittsburgh area, it looks like that will be around the weekend of October 20th.

  Do you have a favorite outdoor adventure that you look forward to? Leave me a post and let me know and as always, enjoy your weekend and I'll see you on Monday!