On Our Cover

Return to Autumn
by Robert A. Tino

Gazing out over a stretch of remote ridges in the Smokies, the distant profile of the mountains can look the same in almost any season. The signature smoky-blue rolls into a pale orchid-gray haze against the horizon.

In those farthest peaks, so beautifully painted by Robert A. Tino in Return to Autumn on our cover, the eye cannot detect the detail of varied colors that announce the arrival of autumn. The illusion is that the Great Smokies are unchanging, but appearances are deceiving.

As we pull our focus from the far-away summits in this newest Robert Tino watercolor to the glory right before us, we can more clearly see the truth. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the seasons have transformed the great emerald cloak of a Smokies' summer to an autumn coat of many lavish colors.

Near Water Rock Knob on the Blue Ridge Parkway, looking out past Balsam Mountain, the artist has faithfully recorded the paradox of nature. Right before our eyes, we see the October day dressed in flame and gold. Apricot and burgundy dapple the hills so close we can almost touch them. Only one tree at this vantage, nearly stripped of its recent splendor, stands witness that still more change is imminent as the calendar takes yet another turn.

The mountains hold a reassuring lesson for us in this watercolor meditation. Our hearts gratefully remember the constancy of change and the promise we find in the annual Return to Autumn.

Return to Autumn was released on August 14, 1998 and is now available for shipping. Prints are $95 plus $15 postage and handling (TN residents add $8.08 sales tax). Artist Proof is $190 plus $15 postage and handling (TN residents, add $16.16 sales tax).

To order, contact Robert A Tino Gallery, Sunset View Farm, 812 Old Douglas Dam Rd., Sevierville, TN 37876; phone 423/453-6315.