I am writing this on April 2nd. Yesterday it snowed. Not much, and it didn’t stick, but it snowed. It felt hugely unwelcome but apt for the day… A couple of weeks ago I still felt romantically inclined towards the cold, wet, white stuff and how it transforms the landscape. After a long walk around Wethersfield Trails I set up to try and capture what had so appealed to me on our hike.
The first sketch on paper, in my mind the warm-up one, remains perhaps my favorite for its directness and the large areas of untouched support.
The reason I “warmed-up” was because I wanted to get the second one right. I had finally committed to using a simply beautiful oak panel made by a friend in Amsterdam, conservator Gert Van Gerven, and generously gifted to me early in the New Year. A wonderful surface with a reverse as pleasing as one could hope for.
And the third and last was, as can be seen from the featured image, a mini version.
Later the same afternoon, I took great pleasure in completing a tiny zigzag sketchbook, concentrating on the snowy undergrowth, and using, for a change, wax crayon and watercolor.
I am rather proud of my left handed dexterity in the video!
So, I do like snow, but for now I have had enough. Bring on the spring!