Winter Day at the Audubon

Winter Day at Audubon - Stage One

It looked like it would be a dry day - but gray - so I set up at the Daniel Webster Wildlife Refuge in Marshfield, MA.   As I painted it got windier and cloudier and chillier so I told myself to paint more quickly!

I decided to face southwest to include the brightest part of the early winter sky.    I mixed up some cloud colors, but made them high key, ie bright.   I'm still using the Gamblin's Radiant Violet and Radiant Magenta - not alone - but mixed with my usual blues and whites.    I painted down to the treeline, and beyond in a couple of places.

Winter Day at Audubon - Stage Two

My treeline was a swirl of asphaltum (a transparent brown), burnt sienna, ultramarine blue and green. The metal roof of the barn had a bluish color, strongly influenced by the sky.   Inside the barn, the farming equipment really caught my attention.   In fact, the items inside were the reason I chose this scene.   There was an old red trailer with bales of hay, tools on the wall, and a small tractor. Ironically, when it came time to paint them, I realize that their values were too dark to distinguish.  I settled for some dark hints of what was there.

Winter Day at Audubon - Stage Three

For the grasses, I used the stubby pastry brush to scrub in the fading winter grasses (ochre, sap green, burnt sienna, a little sky blue to tone it down).   Finally, I carved in the foreground trees.   Cutting them in right over the barn that just got painted is somewhat scary, but it really works to boldly represent the scene as it is.   (The sky paint was quite thick to carve through, so the branches will be restated back in the studio.)

Winter Day at Audubon - Stage Three

I thought I was painting quickly.  I only stopped once to wrap my neck in my warmest fake fur scarf, so I was surprised to discover that over two hours had elapsed.   My body temperature did confirm it had been two hours; I was frozen!     Painting endomorphins were coursing just fine through my veins and it didn't take long to pack up.  Sadly, the canvas fell face down onto the ground!  What?!?  The grit didn't cling as well as it would have in summer.   If you examine the upper left corner of the sky, there are some flakes of dead leaves - actually, just the right spot if I was going to add them.  :)


I still have work to do on the tree branches in the studio before I post to the shop or gallery, but the last photo is where I stopped for the paint-out.