......already?
What do you mean - winter's coming - it's only the beginning of September! Well I know it is but the early signs are there. The swallows are starting to congregate and chatter among themselves about their long flight to warmer climes in Africa. As this is the first time that many of them have ever made this incredible journey they probably have a lot to chatter about! The leaves are beginning to acquire their autumn tints and the nights are noticeably drawing in. More worryingly a lot of my artist friends are preparing their paintings to be featured on this years Christmas cards - a sure sign. So I suppose I'd better start thinking about my winter painting for this year. I've done a 'few' over the years! - the one above was for 2012 and it was interesting how the heavy snow transformed this familiar path. So how do you paint a snow scene? Snow's white - right? Yes.....but if you look at the painting you will notice that there is actually very little 'white' in it. The snow reflects the ambient colours - I used good old french ultramarine to give the blue tinge. This was a very crisp winter day so the shapes and shadow contrasts are very strong. The little bit of colour (raw sienna) adds just a degree of warmth...important in a Christmas card. Here's a few details of the painting illustrating the use of different tones of blue to create depth and space:
I fancy a 'softer' look this year so it will be interesting to compare with this one.......now all I have to do is find my subject!.
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