Visiting Northern England: Final Painting #2, Stages 1-3

With the hot, dry summer weather we have been experiencing, painting a cold, snowy winter scene was very appealing to me. After painting the 8x10 inch study of "Reflections On The River Nidd", I was excited to see what this would look like on a larger scale. I chose a 24x20 inch canvas and started by painting in the shapes with Burnt Umber that had been thinned with oderless mineral spirits.

Stage 1: Painting in the shapes.

I used a No. 14 flat brush for the sky; I wanted it to look thick and heavy with snow. For the trees I switched to a No. 8 flat brush.

Stage 2: Painting in the trees.

Since I knew that I would not have time to paint this entire piece from start to finish in one day, my goal was to complete the upper half, wet-on-wet, in three stages: the drawing, blocking in the shapes with the two flat brushes and then working in the snow on the tree branches with a palette knife.

Stage 3: Adding snow to the branches.

Once again, I felt like I was playing with paint when using my palette knife. I added small amounts of Veridian and Tranparent Oxide Red to Titanium White to create a cool, muted white. Even then the white seemed bright and cold next to the blues and greens of the background. With snow on the branches it felt like things were starting to come alive.