It’s the beautiful things that hold our attention these days. Possibly because they’re becoming so rare. There’s plenty unbeautiful stuff - which is why beauty stands out and is so much more valued.
Glorious pictures and text to go along with them. Yes, autumn is my spring. I adore it! I feel I sleep through the summer, and when November arrives where I live, life begins again. Thanks for posting this marvelous work.
Beautiful art. I especially like #5. I do not share the love of autumn, though. In my neck of the woods (Pacific Northwest), October is fabulous but the rest is dark, damp, and dreary (in my opinion). I like this perspective of it being a sort of "second spring" though. I will try to keep that in mind as the sun sets at 4:45.
What I love about this, James, is how you treat autumn not as nostalgia but as instruction. The season has always felt to me like a teacher disguised as weather. It doesn’t shout. It doesn’t hurry. It just demonstrates—quietly—how beauty and decline can share the same palette.
The paintings you chose make that lesson even clearer. Monet softens the world into reflection; Van Gogh sharpens it into line and shadow. And Arcimboldo, centuries earlier, already understood that a season can be a face, a mood, a personality wearing fruit as its armor.
Autumn is the rare season that asks us to trust change.
Maybe that’s why it feels like a beginning. Everything loosens—light, leaves, expectations—and in the looseness, something shifts. There’s room again. A little air between who we were three months ago and who we might be now.
What a way to spend a day. It’s like being marinated in medicine for the soul bringing life to good energy. Thank you so much. So glad you explained the pumpkin in the hair. Ha.
Autumn is the most glorious time of year! Cooler than summer, warmer than winter, the earth getting ready for its winter's nap, going out in a blaze of glory!
Loved every one, hard to pick a favourite and it is also so true for the quotes.
My favourite season, the Fall in Canada, especially at our cottage is magnificent. No doubt it is magnificent everywhere and a bit melancholy at late sunset over the lake.
It was a beautiful autumn day here in southern England with unusually warm temperatures for November. We haven’t had any recent storms so the leaves have held on late and the colours are breathtaking. I really loved your art choices - but for me, Van Gogh’s art always shines the brightest. Reading his poignant summary to Theo brings tears, knowing how hard he worked to try and please others so his paintings might sell - which of course they didn’t. Thank you again for your carefully chosen words 🤩
This was exquisite, James — a reminder that autumn’s beauty lies not in clinging but in release. I love how you framed it as both renewal and surrender — that delicate balance between holding on and letting go. It’s the same rhythm I’ve found in slow travel: every goodbye making room for what’s next. 🍂 –Kelly
Thank you so much….you lend beauty your words… “Autumn is portrayed as a surly man facing left, his rough features formed from seasonal produce. His neck of pears and vegetables rises from a broken vat bound with willow branches. Apples and pears shape his face, a pomegranate forms the chin, and a mushroom with a fig-shaped earring serves as the ear. His hair is made of grapes, and his bonnet of a pumpkin.”
Thank you, James! Your selection of paintings evokes feelings of autumn from childhood in Europe, the subtle haze of the cooling evening and the smoke that isn’t smoke in the sky. Living now in the Pacific Northwest, the fall days alternate between drenching rain and Arctic blue skies that shock the eyes. Maple trees delight with leaves of yellow, orange, red and sienna. I could not choose between these expressions of this season. Both contain the ash of death and the promise of rebirth. For me, Van Gogh‘s painting of the poplars says it all.
What a lovely collection of beautiful literature and beautiful art. And connecting it all to the lovely shades of autumn. Very inspiring
Thank you so much, Sandra.
It leaves me breathless.
It’s the beautiful things that hold our attention these days. Possibly because they’re becoming so rare. There’s plenty unbeautiful stuff - which is why beauty stands out and is so much more valued.
Absolutely beautiful. Thanks for sharing pieces not often seen.
Glorious pictures and text to go along with them. Yes, autumn is my spring. I adore it! I feel I sleep through the summer, and when November arrives where I live, life begins again. Thanks for posting this marvelous work.
Beautiful art. I especially like #5. I do not share the love of autumn, though. In my neck of the woods (Pacific Northwest), October is fabulous but the rest is dark, damp, and dreary (in my opinion). I like this perspective of it being a sort of "second spring" though. I will try to keep that in mind as the sun sets at 4:45.
What I love about this, James, is how you treat autumn not as nostalgia but as instruction. The season has always felt to me like a teacher disguised as weather. It doesn’t shout. It doesn’t hurry. It just demonstrates—quietly—how beauty and decline can share the same palette.
The paintings you chose make that lesson even clearer. Monet softens the world into reflection; Van Gogh sharpens it into line and shadow. And Arcimboldo, centuries earlier, already understood that a season can be a face, a mood, a personality wearing fruit as its armor.
Autumn is the rare season that asks us to trust change.
Maybe that’s why it feels like a beginning. Everything loosens—light, leaves, expectations—and in the looseness, something shifts. There’s room again. A little air between who we were three months ago and who we might be now.
Beautiful curation.
Hey James,
Thank you for the, paintings:) An amazing group of paintings:)
Lots of hugs on their, way to you :)
Bless your heart x
What a way to spend a day. It’s like being marinated in medicine for the soul bringing life to good energy. Thank you so much. So glad you explained the pumpkin in the hair. Ha.
Autumn is the most glorious time of year! Cooler than summer, warmer than winter, the earth getting ready for its winter's nap, going out in a blaze of glory!
Loved every one, hard to pick a favourite and it is also so true for the quotes.
My favourite season, the Fall in Canada, especially at our cottage is magnificent. No doubt it is magnificent everywhere and a bit melancholy at late sunset over the lake.
It was a beautiful autumn day here in southern England with unusually warm temperatures for November. We haven’t had any recent storms so the leaves have held on late and the colours are breathtaking. I really loved your art choices - but for me, Van Gogh’s art always shines the brightest. Reading his poignant summary to Theo brings tears, knowing how hard he worked to try and please others so his paintings might sell - which of course they didn’t. Thank you again for your carefully chosen words 🤩
This was exquisite, James — a reminder that autumn’s beauty lies not in clinging but in release. I love how you framed it as both renewal and surrender — that delicate balance between holding on and letting go. It’s the same rhythm I’ve found in slow travel: every goodbye making room for what’s next. 🍂 –Kelly
Thank you so much….you lend beauty your words… “Autumn is portrayed as a surly man facing left, his rough features formed from seasonal produce. His neck of pears and vegetables rises from a broken vat bound with willow branches. Apples and pears shape his face, a pomegranate forms the chin, and a mushroom with a fig-shaped earring serves as the ear. His hair is made of grapes, and his bonnet of a pumpkin.”
Thank you very much!! ❤️
Thank you, James! Your selection of paintings evokes feelings of autumn from childhood in Europe, the subtle haze of the cooling evening and the smoke that isn’t smoke in the sky. Living now in the Pacific Northwest, the fall days alternate between drenching rain and Arctic blue skies that shock the eyes. Maple trees delight with leaves of yellow, orange, red and sienna. I could not choose between these expressions of this season. Both contain the ash of death and the promise of rebirth. For me, Van Gogh‘s painting of the poplars says it all.
Fun fact, Millais' wife Effie's first husband was..John Ruskin.
All beautiful, but the Van Gogh unexpectedly took my breath away with the light in it. It's not a painting I have seen before. Thank you.
What a wonderful way to start this foggy, crispy morning. Thank you so much for your poetic words and beautifully collected artworks.