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towel drying the surface. The damp
paper allows me to paint washes with
soft edges that convey the quiet of an
overcast winter day.
After much trial and error, my
favorite recipe for shadows on snow is
cerulean blue, cobalt blue and a tiny
touch of permanent alizarin crimson.
I use a test sheet to make sure the color
is just right before I paint.
I often take photos while I’m walking
my dog in the morning, and these serve
as references for my winter paintings.
How do I choose subjects? Most often
it’s interesting shapes that arrest my
eye—the way a shadow crosses the
road, or how the snow has drifted on
a bright red fire hydrant or on a car
in a neighbor’s driveway. I’m always
aware, of course, that photos don’t
capture the scenes we see with our
own eyes—darks lose their details and
light areas often bleach out—so my
photos are simply the starting point
for what I hope will be a better design
and composition. My large iPad sits
on a book on my painting table so my
reference image is readily available.
Since winter landscapes are often
very grey, I use a limited palette. I love
to contrast warm and cool tones, so if
the snow has blue/mauve shadows I will
add orange or yellow tones in the trees
or buildings. Two of my favorite grey
mixes for winter scenes are made from
Burnt Sienna and ultramarine blue or
burnt umber and Prussian blue. With
these I can mix neutral greys that can
be warmed or cooled by adding more
or less of the blue or brown. I also
look for opportunities to add touches
of pure color that enliven my winter
paintings. That’s why street signs are so
important to my urban scenes.
At the end of the painting process,
I sometimes find that I need little
white highlights of snow on branches
or rooflines. Using a fine brush, I dip
the tip directly into a tiny tube of
titanium white watercolor, and dot
some full-strength white pigment onto
my paper. Those dots of brightness
add the final sparkle that tells me my
painting is done.
24 th and St. Joseph, watercolor, 15 x 22" (38 x 56 cm)
What captured my eye in this local scene was the curve in the road where the houses on the right side meet the ones on
the left. I sketched this from my car and then returned to my studio to paint a larger format version on a half sheet of
watercolor paper. The utility poles and wires are design elements I like to use to add rhythm and repetition.
barré
(Barré)
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