On the Way to the Berkshires

I took a short trip out to western Mass to visit family and friends and paint the early fall views.

It was late summer but in the hills the nights are cool and the air has a fall chill in it. Horse tails spread across sky.

Laurel Lake in Erving forest was beautiful. A few trees were turning bright colors. All the cottages were closed up for the winter .

As I was sitting sketching a bus full of boys drove up. They all ran across the beach, jumped into the lake and swam across it. They were taking a swimming test. The air was so chilly I was wearing a jacket.

As we headed west on route 2, I stopped at the French King Bridge to paint the Connecticut River as it flowed south out of the hills of Vermont. Along the banks some of the greens were just turning gold.

By evening when we reached Ashfield on the edge of the Berkshires it was beginning to get cloudy and misty. The trail led into the trees along Ashfield Lake. It was warmer by the water so the trees were still mostly green.