Featured at the Eiteljorg Museum

Miracle of Autumn captures beauty in fall’s foliage.

Brad Teare’s painting, Miracle of Autumn, is a stunning piece that captures the beauty of the mundane. The painting features a road near Mount Sterling in Cache Valley, Utah, and highlights the changing foliage of a tree with the arrival of autumn. Teare’s remarkable use of broken color and composition guides the viewer’s eyes through the painting, creating a beautiful journey. He created a 14″ x 14″ plein air painting of the scene before making the final painting, which will be exhibited at Anthony’s show opening on May 19. Miracle of Autumn is a must-see for those who appreciate the beauty in the everyday.

Miracle of Autumn 36″ x 36″

Brad Teare’s Miracle of Autumn is a stunning painting that captures the beauty of the mundane. The painting features a road near Mount Sterling in Cache Valley, Utah. Teare was initially painting a scene up the road, a vantage point that offers a panoramic view of the valley. However, on his way home, he noticed a tree with foliage that was changing color with the arrival of autumn, and the view intrigued him.

Teare was also fascinated by the asphalt road in the painting, which he usually avoids. However, the light hitting the asphalt made it appealing to him. The asphalt transitions from warm to cool tones as it picks up some of the sky color. Teare’s use of broken color in the painting is remarkable. The strokes have unexpected colors in each stroke. He used an orange underpainting, which he felt was a nice middle-ground between the overall value and chroma of the envisioned painting.

Compositionally, Teare used the trunks of the tree to bring the viewer’s eyes up to the horizon of the mountain’s silhouette and then back down to the road. The autumn leaves on the tree branches, the pattern made by the negative shapes of the branches, and the road all come together to create a beautiful journey for the eyes through the painting. Sometimes the paint on the foliage is built up so much that when he goes back to lay the color of the branch, he carves out a trough of color with the palette knife. Teare then goes back and lays down another color in that trough.

The painting’s location is the southern end of the Wellsville Mountains, looking northwest. It was late afternoon when Teare finished it. The area is ranch country, with wild grasses and weeds, and Teare was in the shadow when he finished the painting. The trees in the painting are Box Elder trees, a scrub tree found in the Western Rockies along desert areas with little or no water. They are not highly regarded, but Teare finds beauty in them, especially during the fall.

Teare did a 14″ x 14″ plein air painting of the scene before creating the final painting. The plein air painting will be for sale at the Anthony show opening May 19, where Teare plans to have a wall exhibiting his plein air paintings.

Teare is proud of the painting’s broken color, which was used in the advertising for the Eiteljorg Quest for the West show. The painting was used in their promotional magazine, and Teare was thrilled to have it featured in the article about the Quest for the West show. Overall, Miracle of Autumn is a stunning painting that highlights the beauty of the mundane and captures the essence of autumn.