Snow on the Marshside

Viewfinder Taped to Slider

It was snowing today and with a low morning tide, the marsh turned white quickly.  I set up an easel at my studio slider which overlooks this beautiful scene.   It was a nice study in receding distances because the far side of the marsh is about a half mile away, the two cedar trees in the middle are about a third of a mile away, and the dark evergreens on the right are literally right around the corner, about a block away.  I recycled a summertime sailboat painting that had quite a bit of blue which would fit the bill for a snowy underpainting.  

See the photo for my hands-free viewfinder taped to the slider door.   I framed the scene with the viewfinder so that distant marsh shore was pointing in from the right with a slight angle up.   The darkest trees and dock on the left came in on a diagonally, also slightly, upward angle.   The two mid-distance cedars were exactly in the middle.

Snowy scene, easel, viewfinder

I mixed a few pretty light and mid value grays for the sky and far treeline and applied with a large bristle brush.  I used my palette knife to place in the snowy rooftops.  I never realized that the old Ranchhouse was visible from here, but its large roof was a noticable wedge shape against the darker trees.

I worked from furthest to closest, darkening my mixtures as they got near.   The evergreens on the left looked almost black against the snow so I used chromium green and ivory black to get a dark, dull green-black.

Nearly final Snow on the Marshside

After putting in some hints of the Cut River that zigzags through the marsh, I mixed a few shades of white, pink white, blue white, lavender white and yellow white.   I scraped the subtle shades up onto my palette knife and spread it onto the marsh with about three strokes.   The colors blended like food coloring and some ridges got left behind, which looked like what can happen with snow.


I was happy with it and I actually stopped.   Hah.  That is not always easy.   It also had started to rain and the snow on the marsh was melting, which made it less tempting to continue.

Final version will be posted to my website in a couple of days (Mid distance trees should be taller)

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