Sunset Snow

Probably the last plein air snow painting until November (hopefully! though you're never safe until May around here!). I did this one on March 8 or 9. The location is a farm field across from my house. I've looked at this scene for 7 years and thought there were painting possibilities, but my previous attempts generally haven't turned out too well. Then, one evening near sunset my wife and I were walking through the field and I was captivated by the color contrasts as the warm evening light lit up the trees and snow. It was too late to paint that day, so I had to hope for similar conditions before all the snow melted. Fortunately, the next day was clear and as the evening approached I knew I'd get similar light conditions. So off I went.

The only problem was wind...a weather front was approaching and the winds were gusting over 30 mph. Almost blew my easel over a few times, and the wind chill was pretty nasty despite temperatures in the low 40s. Of course, the previous evening had been completely calm! Anyway, I was going to finish the painting no matter what! I thought it looked pretty good on site, but wasn't sure because there was so much orange light out there. When I got inside I was pretty happy with it. The subtle colors didn't reproduce very well in the scan, so it doesn't look as good as the actual painting. I'm quite satisfied and am thinking about working up a larger studio painting from this one, which is 6x12 oil on canvas board.

Ice Painting

This is the second of my "sunny snow" paintings, completed on site on March 6...a clear sunny day with no wind and temperatures in the 40s. I had an idea in mind before heading out - for a painting with a lot of sky and the land concentrated near the bottom. Found my subject at the beach at Braddock Marina...the near shore waters of Lake Ontario (out a hundred feet or so) were frozen and snow covered, so I hiked out a bit and found this nice view to the west (thus the title...ice painting as opposed to ice fishing). Beautiful subtle colors in the distant headland contrasted with the sunlit willow trees glowing on the left. An added feature of interest was the area of partially melted snow and fissures in the ice in the fore and middle ground. I feel I captured the true colors of the day, though I'm not sure I'm satisfied with the sky...it's very thinly painted without a lot of variation. I think it offsets the interest in the land pretty well, though.

10x12 oil on canvas panel. If you look too closely you'll see a vertical line where I had to join the 2 scanned images of this painting. It's not there in real life...

Salmon Creek in the Snow

After a winter of cloudy skies and wind, we finally got a few days of warmer weather, sun and deep snow cover in early March. I was able to get out to do some painting during these rare, beautiful conditions. This is the first of 3 paintings I was able to finish outdoors. It is an 8x12 oil on canvas, and was painted at Salmon Creek Country Club, which adjoins our property. After tumbling through some "mini-gorges", the Creek passes through some flatter land where it makes some beautiful, long S-curves. It was that S-pattern that attracted me, along with the contrast of the dark blue water against the snow. The resulting composition may be a little symmetrical, but I kind of like the result.

Despite the sun, it was still on the cold side this day (mid-upper 30s). After an exhausting trek through a foot of soft snow, I realized that I probably need to invest in some snowshoes, something I've been thinking about since moving up here 7 years ago.

Despite the deep snow cover, I was not alone out there...in addition to the birds, the ground was covered by some kind of small insect. They were all over the snow, just crawling around. I remember seeing them in past years, and always find it interesting that they are out in the snow. If anyone can identify this bug, let me know: (edited to add: this appears to be a type of stonefly, which emerges from cold streams in early spring, and are often seen crawling on snow)

January Thaw

This 9x12 oil painting was done during our "January Thaw" this year. It was started en plein air, but I had trouble with the foreground and had to essentially re-paint that entire section at home...still not sure I've got the perspective of the furrows right, but it'll do for now. We had a lot of snow in early January, then a mild period with rain...so the air had a fair bit of moisture in it, giving those background trees an interesting, warmish glow in the sunlight. It was a very beautiful mid-winter day.

The main attractions to me were the way the cluster of buildings sat in the landscape, and the "rivers" and puddles of water in the foreground. On the jpeg, the whites have translated a little too bright and cold, especially in the buildings...and the blue tones in the puddles aren't quite right. But you get the idea.

Radishes

These are some radish paintings I did a while back. They are all oil paintings, size 6x8. The first and third are on canvas, and the middle on is on board. I can't remember what order I painted these...but the duplicate composition in the first two is intentional...I liked the arrangement and just wanted to try two different surfaces. I prefer canvas but for small paintings like these, the weave pattern is often too strong (that's why I tried the smoother board). I think I need to find a finer canvas for the small stuff.

One thing I've learned from painting vegetable - any leaves wilt really quickly under the spotlights! Gotta remember to get those greens indicated before that happens. Also, creating interesting compositions is difficult...my main purpose here is to improve painting/rendering skills, so the composition is of secondary importance but it cannot be completely ignored.