North Carolina Snowshine

After a couple of weeks of rain, rain, rain we had a beautiful snowfall when we awoke Friday here in the North Carolina Piedmont. I was so glad to see the sun and the snow reflecting that gorgeous light of morning that I had to put on my boots and go take a photo before the sun got any higher. I am pretty wimpy when it comes to plein air painting in the cold but I did make an attempt to do a snow painting through my window.

 

This was an exercise in chasing the sun so I decided to try another snow painting from one of the photos I had taken. I liked the peachy glow that seemed to be coming through some of the branches  against the bluish purple shadows under the trees so that's what I focused on. This took just a little over and hour to get started and then I left it alone over night and went back to work on it for about another hour or so today just to add some definition and tie it together.

This is my first finished painting of the new year, a 9x12 oil entitled First Snow.  I think it will be one of my 2 small pieces for the Small Art, Big Heart show at Hampton House Gallery opening Friday, February 8th. The show will benefit Aids Care Services of Winston-Salem, NC.

Starting the New Year

I feel like I haven't painted for a long, long time. Spent lots of time with my family over Christmas and New Years; cooked, ate, laughed and watched a lot of movies, but not much art was created here at my house. My daughters Jill and Jessica were at home long enough to settle in and relax – we just hung out together which was great.

This week I began work on a scene that I had wanted to paint for a few years.

I had taken many pictures of these young musicians, chose the best shots and combined them into this scene. The next step will be an underpainting on sanded pastel paper using watercolor or pastel and gamsol – haven't decided yet!  Got to get back to it now.
Happy Painting in the New Year!