Frozen Feeder Spring

Frozen Feeder Stream

It occurred to me that one of the main reasons I like to paint sunny snow scenes is that it fulfills my desire to span the entire value spectrum (where value = lightness to darkness).  Whereas a foggy scene would have no super darks or super lights because everything is muted, a bright sunny day in the sun is another story,     Like in last week's Wilton Winter Mill, the darkest darks in the water occur because of winter's low sun angle, yet the snow can be brilliantly light because it is translucent.  

Of course the other reason I like to paint snow is that - usually - that is our reality for at least three months of the year.  Why not embrace it?!

Today's painting is a similar color palette, and has that same wide value range from darkest to lightest.   This painting is my favorite so far this season and was done on an aluminum panel.   On the painting's surface, the metal shows through and where it does, it looks a bit shimmery.  I also scraped off paint with the tip of my palette knife revealing aluminum to represent dry grasses.   

This is a New Hampshire scene along the edge of a pond where a little brook traveled under a footbridge.   Over to my left, there were people ice fishing and even a few vehicles sitting on the ice. Yikes, but this end looked melty and so picturesque!

Wilton Winter Mill

Winter Mill

This 7.5x7.5 inch painting captures a mid-February scene from last year's trip to New Hampshire.   The Souhegan River winds its way around the mill and on downstream.  It's mostly frozen but the water that is showing is a dark, rich, full chroma blue.  The icy edges are a muted chromium green.  I like that chatter of the underbrush on the bottom left balances the warm brick of this massive old mill.Although it looks frigid, I remember enjoying the "mild" temps while taking photos of the scene and the waterfalls (not shown).  

Plein Air Hancock, NH

It took just under two hours to get to Hancock, NH for our February painting getaway. My husband and I were each able to get two paintings done in the three days.  The conditions were rough the first day as it was cloudy, freezing cold - and windy.  Additionally, I was standing in snow.   I was quickly chilled to the bone.  It did make me paint faster than usual, although the paint was quite sluggish.   Hahaha...it was great!   I sought hot tea immediately once we got to the Inn and happily let their elderly Golden Retriever rest his warm head in my lap.

Snowy Gate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By contrast, the next day was glorious. The full sunshine gave a brilliant glow to everything in sight. The black and white world from the previous day was now full of lively color, blue sky, yellow inn, red barn, and golden, sunlit pile of firewood.  I never did clean off my palette from the first day, so its no wonder that the snow colors look very similar.   The photo belies the bright color in the actual painting, especially the red, and now I'm thinking I should make things brighter still.  Paintings that reside in the studio are never really done!

Barn Out Back

 

 

 

Trailhead - White Mountains

Old Version

This is a painting that I did a couple of years ago on site in New Hampshire.   I came across it since I needed a snowscape for an upcoming show.   With fresh eyes, I instantly saw what wasn't quite right with the painting - probably why it was relegated to "the stack."  It is now reworked and I think that the overall result is better.

Can you identify what I saw in the old painting that I didn't like?

Trailhead - White Mountains

If you said, blockers, you agree with me.  The beautiful distant mountains are the starring feature in this region of New Hampshire.   Although I included them in the painting, there was not just one, but two barriers between the viewer and those lovely mountains. Specifically, the row of shrubs and the sharp beginning of the foreground woods were dark parallel lines across the entire width.   The viewer's eye couldn't flow to the distance, and it was both a psychological block and a physical block.  I had painted the scene literally, so literally that the painting composition suffered.

To fix it, I added a path to a trail into the woods, chopped down the little evergreen to the left of center and added a trailhead marker   These features were borrowed from the trailhead entrance just a short distance away.  We can walk into the scene now - the artistic license everyone talks about!

View from Bear Mountain Lodge

View from Bear Mountain Lodge - Stage One

We packed up our gear for hiking and painting and headed north into New Hampshire for a mid-January getaway.   There has been relatively little snow so far this season in New England, but as we reached the White Mountains it got a little whiter.   By the time we reached our destination in Bethlehem, NH, north of the notch, it had the look of winter.



View from Bear Mountain Lodge - Stage Two

The back deck of our lodging at Bear Mountain Lodge faced northeast with a spectacular view of the White Mountains.    When the skies were clear, Mount Washington was the furthest visible peak and its snowcap was lit up brightly when the sun was on it.  

The decision of what to paint first was inevitable and I never did get to a second painting.      I had brought a 12x24" canvas board which worked out well for a wide, sweeping landscape view such as this. 

For most of the painting session it was cloudy and grey.  Since I wanted to depict a sunlit scene, I had to switch gears whenever the sun peaked out - observing and mixing in more yellow color and blue shadows.  (The variation from minute to minute is always the challenge of plein air!)    For most of the painting session, Mount Washington was not even visible, but I was determined to include it and had to act quickly when it made an appearance.  (See white peaks behind birches on the left.)



View from Bear Mountain Lodge - Final (Maybe)

 I'll be letting the super thick impasto cure for a while before I decide if any additional changes are needed.   I know the color is the way I want it, but compositionally, I may insert another rock or two in the foreground.

Icy Pond at the Inn




Icy Pond Canvas Underpainted Black

In the afternoon of our New Hampshire painting weekend, it warmed up to almost forty.   The front of the inn where we were staying was very picturesque.   I set up in front of the inn looking down the hill at a ranch style fence which surrounded a frozen duck pond.    A pretty white birch on the far side of the pond reached up to the pink winter sky and of course, the mountains in the distance. 




Icy Pond at the Inn - Stage Two

I began once again with a black gesso underpainting.   The snow paint had to be thick to cover the black and  I used an unprecedented amount of thick paint - for me anyway.   This was the best view of mountains so far so I mixed three separate values of dull blue for the mountain colors.  The pretty red grasses behind and in front of the pond were thick and even pumped up the color with more thick paint.    I was satisfied that this may have been the best of the three paintings from the weekend.   So is was a darn shame that as I packed up, a gust of wind grabbed the easel; it flew over into the mud.   Dirt and grit was smeared into the thick impasto paint on the left.  


Icy Pond at the Inn - Stage Three

Grrrrrr.   The loose juicy grasses were spoiled.  I wish I had taken a photo before I scraped off the dirt and sand and packed up.    I fretted for a bit, but I used a photo reference to repair it in the studio.   It isn't exactly how I wanted it, but close.   The freshness of a painting done in a cold plein air setting is undoubtedly superior to a studio work.   I think the lack of perfection and overwork is a lot nicer!
 
 
 

 

Icy Pond at the Inn Final



C-C-Cold,Cloudy, Frozen Riverbanks

Hawk at Nest



Riverside Stage One

Our second paint-out in Chesterfield, NH was a bit colder than the first one.   It was early morning, mostly cloudy and eighteen degrees.   We drove along the eastern (New Hampshire) side of the Connecticut River on a road called River Road.    There were some antique houses and farms along the way, mostly away from the riverbanks.   People were more sensible back when they were built.   Right along the shore there were more modern houses and along one stretch we found a boat launch.   I don't know if anyone launches anything onto a frozen river, but it was plowed right to the edge providing a place to pull in and set up!   At first we thought it might be a little boring, but the best part was that there was no traffic whizzing by so it was tranquil and natural.   In fact, there was a large hawk perched above its nest; it towered over all the other trees along the riverbanks.  (See photo at left).

Frozen Riverbanks

I was determined to get mountains in my paintings this weekend so I set up facing north and I could just see hints of them over the river at the furthest visible point.   There were many more trees hanging out over the river than I included.    I used a canvas with a black underpainting which gave a stark contrast to the ice and snow all around.   Rusty colored leaves composting at the base of the edge just in front of me.    There was a feeder stream just in front of it, the only area with water.   The available water was a popular spot for a constant flurry of birds.   I added some robins sitting above the watering hole and one at the edge of the water.

 

Ice Fishing Shanties in Brattleboro, VT

Ice Fishing Shanties - Stage One

On the first paint out day away, we spent entirely too much time trying to find a great spot to paint.  The issue we had in beautiful Chesterfield, New Hampshire wasn't that there weren't enough scenic spots (blanketed with a gorgeous snowpack), but rather there was so much snow, that the embankments prevented convenient access, both for parking the car and walking to a spot.    Instead of the coveted covered bridge scene, we found a location behind the Brattleboro, VT Retreat that overlooked a frozen tributary to the West River, a feeder to the nearby Connecticut River.   



Ice Fishing Shanties - Stage Two

Ice Fishing Shanties

It seemed scary that there would be fishing huts on river ice, but obviously the local experts knew that the state of this frozen inlet was safe.    The colorful fishing shanties dotted the ice and the deep blue snowmobile tracks crisscrossed between them.   On the far side, Route 30 paralleled the river and there was a farm complex of red structures.    I framed the scene for my painting so that the central snowmobile tracks would enter in the bottom left and travel diagonally up to the far river bank, stopping in front of the cluster of red buildings where there was a river access.

The paint was so stiff in the cold that after applying it, I had to dip my palette knife into turpenoid and smooth out the bristle marks, especially for the smooth ice surfaces.   I'm still waffling on adding more shanties.  It's the part of the scene that I liked most, but would adding more of them improve the painting's design?  You be the judge, and I'll comply with the majority. :)

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