Fall Color Paintings - pastels

Since I'm still in a "fall colors" momentum after all the photos I've been taking - and posting - I wanted to get back and do some more paintings.  I'll probably continue the fall colors theme for a bit since repetition will help improve my ability to handle things like correct colors, shadows and painting trees effectively.  The first painting was done as 14x11" on Strathmore 500 series pastel paper (a moss green color).  I'd tweaked the cropping/composition of the original photo to where I thought it would look best, but it wasn't until I took the photo of the finished painting that I realized that more of the field had to go.  So, this is the cropped version.  It places more focus on the trees than was in the original painting.  It took one evening and maybe an hour the next day to complete, and I found myself fighting to not overwork it and add too many details.   I did change some things from the original reference; the tree on the far left was originally green - I wanted a more pronounced fall palette, so it became reddish/rust. 

"Fall at Field's Edge" - pastel on Strathmore

After I finished it, I decided to do a smaller study using some of the pre-cut papers I'd been using for the challenge paintings. I really like the sanded surface and dark color of the sandpaper, so I used that for a looser, more abstracted version. I changed the colors a bit, and used some of the Mt. Vision pastels I'd just received in the mail; the sky and field are done using them.  The smaller study took about 30 min and was fun and refreshing to do.  Sky is brighter and cooler now as blue, and gives a completely different look.  I think some of the tree shapes are a bit repetative, but I was more interested in incorporating different colors here:

"Fall at Field's Edge" - 5.5"x 8", black sanded paper