After the Blizzard

It was two days after the Blizzard of 2015 and although it had been freezing for days, the sun was finally shining brightly - enough to warm things up into the thirties.  The roads were still messy so I drove a short distance to Our Lady of the Assumption Church.   The issue wasn't finding snow; it was everywhere.  The goal was to find a place to pull in, given all the snowbanks.   The church parking lot had been plowed and there were even sidewalk areas that were dry.   I set up looking southeast toward a kettle pond that sat at the back of the church property.   

After the Blizzard - Stage One -Underpainting



After the Blizzard - Stage Two - Line Sketch




After the Blizzard - Stage Three - Snow Darks

My 9x12 inch board was toned with a grey-green underpainting.  I sketched the lines of the scene with transparent oxide brown and cobalt blue.    I mixed three values for the snow.   The shadiest snow was raw umber, cobalt blue and radiant violet.   The middle value looked bluer so I used the same combination as the darkest snow but added some extra cobalt and a very small amount of sap green.   The branch shadows on the snow were the darkest snow value closest to the tree, then as the shadow moved away from the trunk, it's darkness diffused to the middle value as it stretched out over the snow pack.



After the Blizzard - Stage Four - Snow Lights

The brightest whites were the most fun... titanium white with some streaks of naples yellow, radiant magenta and they were buttered on with the palette knife in a thick impasto.





Despite the lack of much color variation in this snowscape, I like the strong value contrasts.   Yes, plein air painting yields the freshest results!








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After the Blizzard