Quiet watch 20 x 16 pastel on board

Snow!

It's February 1st and I haven't posted since October! But I have been painting and have completed 4 paintings, all of snow. (And this despite a broken left arm!!!) There is no pure white in any of my paintings. So I thought I'd share them on the blog and discuss my choice of colors for the snow.

This first picture was inspired by a scene in Mattapoisett on an overcast day. I saw the arc of grasses arising above the snow and knew that I had the makings for a painting. The village is my invention. You won't see this scene in Mattapoisett.

Since the sky is overcast, the light on the snow is cooler, not as bright as it would be on a sunny day, with the yellows of the sun. The color of the more distant snow is actually a very light tint of green; the snow in the foreground is violet and pink. There are no cast shadows, so the snow forms a solid shape. I find this to be very restful, very quiet without the energy of a scene filled with shadows.

I added a red tailed hawk in the tree on the right to balance the rust colors of the oak leaves on the left. But I didn't want him to be too obvious. He should blend into his surroundings, as a hawk on the prowl would want to do!