TM9271 Thinking about Due North 7.25×7.25 oil on paper
TM9270 Snowy Dune #2 7×7 oil on paper
TM9269 Snowy Dune #1 6×6 oil on paper
Winter’s big, open, wind-swept spaces have their own stark beauty. These studies, two from the coast and one overlooking a snow-covered pond, offer longer views. The colors are muted. The air is crisp, clean, and cold. You can hear the silence. Listen again. It won’t last.
TM9272 Winter’s Creek #7 6×6 oil on paper
TM9267 February Morning 6×6 oil on paper
TM9268 Sugaring Season Starts 6×6 oil on paper
Painting the landscape (almost) daily makes one intensely aware of nature’s changes – the angles of shadows, the quality of the light as the sun gets higher in the sky, and the changing colors of the ice and snow are all evidence of the year’s passing. Winter’s Creek #7 is clearly deep winter, with its deep shadows. February Morning is lighter and seems a bit warmer with the sun higher in the sky. In Sugaring Season Starts the snow is thinning and there’s a hint of melt water in the creek. More to come…enjoy.
TM9263 Watching the Sun Come Out 30×30 oil on panel
A slice of light striking evergreens decorated with snow, set off by the icy pond in the foreground – this is February. You can tell there was a brief thaw before the storm, from the slip of open water. Will it freeze up? Maybe. But since this is February, and the sun is warmer, all the snow and ice could disappear entirely in a few days. With global warming, it’s hard to predict.
TM9261 Snowy Woods 36×40 oil on panel
Into the woods on a brilliantly sunny day, with long blue shadows and snowy arches overhead – this is January, and this is the entrance to winter’s cathedral. The silence can seem holy, because it is. Winter’s dormancy covers the life hidden beneath snow – a time of rest before the tumult of spring. Details below. Enjoy.
TM9261 Snowy Woods – close-up from right side
TM9261 Snowy Woods – close-up from left, shadowed side with snow shaken by a breeze
TM9261 Snowy Woods – close-up from lower center with sunlight on young evergreen
TM9260 Basking in the Heart of January 30×30 oil on panel
Every woodland has its moments, and this view over a clearing and creek, then up into the hill beyond, glistens with a strong January sun. These are days when you could use a pair of sunglasses, but who could bear to alter the blues and violets, and warm ochres and siennas in the branches? Not me. Details below. Enjoy.
Technical painting notes: The first stage was rolling a thinned layer of sienna, mixed with violet and umber, onto the whitely primed panel. I scraped into the wet paint to indicate trees and limbs, the spattered some blue-grey paint, and some solvent, to “interrupt” the paint surface, giving it more depth. A few days later, when this base layer was dry, I started to block in the sky, then trees, with a more opaque oil paint.
TM9260 Basking in the Heart of January – second day, blocking in the sky and using small roller charged with transparent grey paint to block in ground plane in woods
TM9260 Basking in the Heart of January – second day, close-up showing sky blocked inn, beginning to define tree limbs with highlights over scraped areas, streaky color from base layer showing through
TM9260 Basking in the Heart of January – second day, beginning to paint tangled growth in foreground, light grey paint rolled over textured color in creek area
I like to work the whole painting, not getting to bound up in the details too early. Using a roller to pick up and reposition wet paint keeps me from worrying the details too soon, and contributes a sort of anarchy that suits the subject. I use Liquin medium to speed the drying time.
TM9260 Basking in the Heart of January – close-up showing roller marks t indicate ground plane in the woods, spatter from underlayer showing through
TM9260 Basking in the Heart of January – end of third day with contrasts developed and shadows refined
On the third day I continued to paint directly with the brush, developing more detail in the trees, and rolling into the wet paint to reposition and multiply the effect of the trees. This serves to soften some edges as well, increasing the sense of depth. By now, the paint was beginning to get “sticky” so I left it to dry.
The fourth day I selectively glazed the shadows. intensified the whites, and added more snow to the trees and tangles. The painting now felt the way I remembered that day, full of cold and joy and wonder.
TM9260 Basking in the Heart of January – fourth day with more translucent white paint re-rolled onto sunlit areas to increase vibrancy, blue and violet glazes added to woods to define shadows, additional snow added to tangled growth and a few trees for contrast
TM9260 Basking in the Heart of January – close-up of tangled growth by the creek
TM9260 Basking in the Heart of January – detail from left of center
This week’s studies are based on a walk I took to visit one of my favorite creeks. With the sun out, is there anything better?
Technical painting notes: The studies were all done on rag paper coated with shellac, front and back, to equalize the tension. I lay down mid to dark values using Liquin as my medium on the first day, When the paint is dry (usually the following day), I develop the image, laying in lights then mid-tones.
TM9255 Ode to the Winter Woods 36×40 oil on panel
Ode to the Winter Woods is my homage to the delights of hiking into the woods during the chilly season. Clean air and the sharp smell of evergreens are refreshing, but it’s the glorious slant light of winter that enchants. Shadows stretch and linger, interrupted by swaths of light. Blue-violet shadows are full of mysteries – who is hiding under the snow? And the bare, deciduous trees allow for glimpses that would be impossible in summer – there’s a creek back there? Details below. Enjoy.
TM9255 Ode to the Winter Woods – detail from right side, looking past foreground scrub into the woods
TM9255 Odeto the Winter Woods – detail from center with snow drifting from branches
Technical painting notes: All of the winter paintings start with a thin application of oil paint with a soft rubber roller, usually a mix of umbers and siennas, sometimes with a bit of pthalo blue added. While the paint is wet, I scrape into it with a silicone scraper, using it to draw the basic position of the trees and branches. I also drip solvent onto the surface to “interrupt” it, creating dots (and streaks, if I lightly brush the dots of solvent). The mottled surface adds a feeling of depth to the final image. Once the base layer is dry, I use glazes (applied with a soft nylon watercolor wash brush) to develop the color, then use brushes and traditional transparent pigments to develop the details. Occasionally I use a small roller to again interrupt the surface, using it to reposition wet paint and blur edges. This adds a necessary element of chaos, which is certainly abundant in nature. Additional glazes are used to harmonize the final color, with bright highlights painted into the wet surface.
