#436 'Snow Pastels' 30x30cm

Just after sunrise when there's still a bit of colour in the sky but no direct light on the scene. It was a few days ago -8 with wind chill, bitter but worth it :-) 
Reminds me of Farrow and Ball colours! Lots of mixed greys - warm and cool. More snow paintings to come!

#318 'Snow Shadows' 9x10"

On the last day of snow the sun came out, I wanted to find shadows and light to paint. I loved these colours. The sun was behind me and close to the tree line, I didn't know how long I had to paint the bit I liked! Usually I would have started on the structure first - the trees. But this time I quickly put the bluey shadows in the and the different colours of snow, it was peachy and warm because of the low sun. See pic below.

One important factor to the composition was the light through the trees contrasting the dark foreground trees and shadows. The distance needed to be bright and light and not very defined. The path is also good for leading the eye through.
Thickness of paint can give emphasis to an area, so the snow is important and also light in tone so it gets a thick application. The foreground trees are darker and thinner in paint as I don't want the eye to linger on this area as long. I did repaint the tree area as it was too thick and it made the area to strong, scraped off redid and much better! I'm not worried to do this in a painting as it can add a depth to it. The blue shadows were applied and left alone no retouching or fussing.
I am happy with this one especially the application of paint.

#317 'Spring Snow at the Devils Punch Bowl' 8x19.5"

On the first day of snow I tackled this scene in a panoramic format. I went back yesterday - the last day of snow and did it again. This time a lot bigger as I found the small board crampt for the scene, see below:

6x15" initial oil study

The light & shadows came at the end and I happily put them in, I was unsure whether it would work with the painting but it could be a shaft of light between the black clouds!

I emphasised the strong sweeping shape from the bottom left to top right, plus the snow covered path hugging the Punch Bowl in the distance. 

I'm pleased with this painting as its difficult to capture the vast space and essence of the Punch Bowl :-)

#312 'Snowdrops' 8x8"

Carrying on with the spring flowers theme this week. I chose a dark background to show them up. It needed to be darker than the darkest tone of the white petals as I didn't want them disappearing too much. 
The little glass vase seamed to mimic their fragility I enjoyed painting it too.

I started as I do in landscape putting the dark shapes in:

It was nice to have the subject close up unlike the landscape which is spread out, so you can really see what's there. 

I will post my last spring flowers tomorrow.

I've heard snow is coming again....how exciting! Although we are just off to Emsworth, Hampshire for a seaside painting/photo weekend, will have to come back if it does snow to paint it!!

#288 Mist & Snow The Devils Punch Bowl 8x10"

I didn't know we were due snow, so Sunday morning was quite exciting! I dropped everything to get out and paint at the highest point in our area - The Punch Bowl. 

I was drawn to these trees because of the shapes and the snow on them and the feeling of receding space helped by the mist.

It was snowing when I arrived but later turned to rain. I couldn't have painted without my new brolly its called a Gust Buster for golfers, its huge 62" white monster, supposedly good for wind too. I rested it on my palette as too heavy to hold but it worked a treat my palette and board didn't get wet, yay!

This is mainly a tonal painting starting with the big foreground tree which had some green in it I then adjusted the tone by adding a light violet for the middle distant trees and the far trees had Naples Yellow in too. I put the structure of the trees in first then the lighter tones of snow.

Because I was painting quick - it was cold! and I wanted the trees loose, I didn't shape the foreground tree enough and then it was too late, best to leave it and not fiddle, so its fatter than the original, but doesn't really matter, still gives a feel for it!

The really light snow I paint on thickly helps to see the texture of the paint.

#279 'Sunrise, Devils Punch Bowl' 10x10"

This was the last painting I managed before it poured with rain and the snow sadly melted. I have painted this scene before but from a photo during our joint exhibition in March this year, doing this I felt more familiar with the subject.

I chose a square format to help the composition and make a strong design. 
I simplified the shapes of the trees and bushes and used similar dark tones and colours. The distant trees closer to the sun (left side) are a warm red-violet colour as the sunlight is influences them.
When I arrived the area was in shadow and then the sun came up and the light hit the snow and the colours were amazing! Intense yellows and oranges, I painted the light quickly without any purple shadows looking for the light shape patterns. Squinting my eyes helped to see the light shapes.
The purple shadows in the snow were more intense closer to me and duller further away - so I mixed some complimentary yellow to dull the purple down.
I'm happy with how this painting turned out!

#275 'First Light, The Devils Punch Bowl' 8x14"

A very tricky subject, as the composition is minimal, you have to make more of it than is actually there! 

The mist rolled up the hill at the end which changed it as well.
When I got it back to the studio it was one of those that was disappointing, it didn't work. So I decided to scrape the whole thing back. Nothing to loose as I didn't like it how it was. I used a palette knife and took as much paint off as I could and leaving a ghost of a painting. I did it in sections here's the second. I had just done the sky & hills...

You can also see I changed the composition as the tree line was coming off the bottom of the board, so I moved it up and made it a bit smaller, which helped.

The light hit the tops of the trees which I captured it also hit the top of the middle distance hills I put that in but decided it was confusing and when I repainted it, it more how it was in the beginning of the morning. 

A good learning piece, bitter cold too!

#181 'Spring, Devils Punch Bowl' 24x30cm

I started this one a few days ago....

But decided I wanted to get more information to finish it so I went back the next morning to do a drawing and really look at the shapes and tones.

It was early morning light between 5-6am it had a warm glow and strong contrasts. An hour or so later there was no lovely shadow shapes from the gate as the sun had moved around, so getting up early was worth it!

The gate was tricky as I didn't want it too defined or with hard edegs. I made the tone lighter and cooler than the trees. I didn't try and straighten the slatted edges or fill it all in. Leaving it allows the brain to fill in the missing information and makes the gate look back lit.
I'm pleased with the outcome and will do more there :-)