"Snow Creek" (oil on linen; 8" x 10")

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Down the street on which I live, there is a park along a small creek, called Holmes Run. When my daughter was little, we spent many hours there, launching paper boats, throwing rocks, and hopping on stepping stones across the creek and back.

These days, I usually go down to the creek by myself after a snowfall to admire the crisp winter beauty.  "Snow Creek" was based on a photo I took last year on a bitingly-cold morning.

"Fine Creek Morning" (oil on linen; 9" x 12") sold

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On the fourth day of Gregory Packard's workshop, which was last Thursday, the sun has returned to Richmond, VA.  The workshop organizers had kindly arranged a plein-air painting opportunity for us.  Following our fearless leader, Greg, we trekked for half an hour to the Mill at Fine Creek in Powhatan, VA. Yes, there were the romantic mill ruins, which have become an outdoor dining area and wedding venue.  But the real surprise was the creek itself.  The name apparently comes from General Robert E. Lee, who said that it was a fine creek.  I have never seen anything like it in Virginia.  The entire creek bed was rocks!

The romantic mill ruins at Fine Creek

Fine Creek

Workshop participants painting away

I decided to paint a scene facing the other way.

"Fine Creek Morning" half finished 

There was no shortage of beautiful sceneries: garden flowers, quaint houses, the mill ruins, the creek, etc.  But I didn't feel motivated.  Shocking, isn't it?  Kim Stenberg, a painting addict, not motivated in such a stimulating environment?  I didn't know it at that time, but I was coming down with a bad cold.  So I took a picture of the above scene that caught my eye and seemed "easy" to paint.  Unfortunately, by the time I was finished setting up my easel (it takes at least 15 minutes to set up the outdoor oil painting gear), the sun disappeared for the rest of the morning!  It actually rained a bit. Dang.

Do you know what I, a sick puppy, did?  I painted the scene from the LCD screen of my camera and memory!  Greg wasn't terribly impressed with my efforts; I wasn't either. The biggest problem with the half-finished painting was the composition.  If you look at it carefully, it is divided into a series of rectangles.  What's up with that?

I called it quits (good for me!), had a sandwich lunch with my new friends, and successfully persuaded Greg into doing a plein-air-painting demo.  I even helped him to unload and carry his painting gear.  He said that he was rusty because he hadn't painted outside for a year.  Tough.

On Monday, I worked on "Fine Creek Morning," focusing on correcting the compositional error.  I am pleased with the final painting.  Please leave comments about what you think!

"Last Leaves" (oil on linen; 8" x 10") sold

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Last leaves cling on to the snow-coated branches of bare trees on a bright winter morning.  I have painted the same scene before.  I would like to think that the new painting has more impact with a dynamic composition, bravado brushstrokes, and loads of paint.  What do you say?

"Winter Creek" (oil, 8 x 10")
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"Morning After Snowfall" (oil on linen; 8" x 10") sold

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I have painted the same scene twice before.  Yes, I like it that much.  It is a creek down the street where I live.  I took the reference photo many years ago before the age of digital cameras.  Because of the severe erosion caused by heavy rainfalls over the years, this stretch of Holmes Run doesn't look quite the same anymore.  As it hasn't snowed much last winter, I keep painting the same enchanting winter wonderland from my old print. 

I have been rereading Kevin Macpherson's Landscape Painting Inside and Out for the umpteenth time. I think I finally get it.  He talks about the light and shadow families and keeping them separate throughout the painting session.  He also emphasizes using MORE PAINT.  I tried my darned best to paint as if I meant it, with as fewest strokes as possible. 

"Fresh Snow" (oil, 8" x 10")
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You probably cannot tell much difference between the new painting and the old one ("Fresh Snow") other than the temperature difference (caused by the quirks of photography), but I assure you that I had a lot more fun with the new one and painted it faster.  Of course, painting fast is not the  goal, but the speed implies decisiveness and enthusiasm.  The way I painted "Morning after Snowfall" is the direction I am pursuing--bolder, fresher, and more lively.

"Walk in Winter Woods" (oil on linen; 9" x 12") sold

"Walk in Winter Woods"
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"Winter Morning" (oil, 9" x 12")
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"Winter Afternoon" (oil, 12" x 9")
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"Fresh Snow" (oil, 9" x 12")
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"Snowfall" (oil, 8" x 10")
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"Central Park Snowed In" (oil, 10" x 12")
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I painted lots of snow scenes this winter, which required hard work.  It  was not because snowscapes were particularly difficult to paint.  It had everything to do with the snowless winter in northern Virginia!  I don't ski or snowboard, or didn't travel to snowy places to visit relatives this year. Alas, my plein-air painting friends and I waited for snowfalls in vain, with our new snow boots still in their boxes.  It is practically spring here.  I've spotted crocuses, snowdrops, lenten roses, daffodils, dwarf irises, cherry blossoms, and forsythia, so far.  Somebody told me that her tulips are blooming too!  We may still get a blizzard in March, but I doubt it.

Yesterday I reached the very bottom of my pile and completely exhausted the reference material for my favorite subject by painting "Walk in Winter Woods."  All the things I've learned by painting in a series went into it.  It is the grand finale, so to speak, and I am proud of it.

I've included in today's entry some of my favorite snowscapes for your enjoyment.  Until next winter, good bye, snow paintings.

"Fresh Snow" (oil on linen; 9" x 12") sold

"Fresh Snow"
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"Winter Morning" (oil, 9" x 12")
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As you know, I have painted quite a few snowscapes since last fall.  I am pretty much out of the snow reference material in this exceptionally mild, snowless winter.  Out of desperation, I dug out a photo I had used for "Winter Morning," and came up with a new painting, titled "Fresh Snow."  Cheeky!

I remember how pleased I was with the first version.  Now I look at it, I am not impressed at all.  Look at the reflections of the trees.  Don't you think they look anemic?  And what about the treatment of the distant woods?  Half-hearted, I say.  I admit that there is that ineffable softness in the old painting.  Nonetheless, I vote for the new one.  What do you think?

"Central Park Snowed In" (oil on linen; 10" x 12") sold

"Central Park Snowed In"
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"Snow Trees" (oil, 8" x 12")
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"Snow Creek" (oil, 9" x 12")
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As you can see, I have a mini series going on here--snowscape with trees and creek/pond.  If I paint the same scene over and over again, I will die of boredom and atrophy.  But as I continue to explore the same theme with variations, I gain a deeper understanding of the theme.  In "Snow Creek," I learned how the smaller area of the sun-lit snow seems to glow next to the much larger one of the snow in shadow. 

In "Snow Trees," I grouped the sun-lit and shadowed areas and assigned them the two separate sections in the picture plane.  I played around by intensifying the blues of the creek, to contrast them with the warm colors of the trees.  But my main concern and fun was to figure out how to paint wet snow clinging to trees.

In the first painting of the new year, painted on the New Year's Day--"Central Park Snowed In--" I am back to the meandering stream and snow-coated trees.  I am also contrasting a small sun-lit area with the rest of the snow-covered pond at Central Park, which is in shadow.  I have become more ambitious, introducing the background, which is very different from the rest of the painting and works as the foil for it: the blurred skyline of Manhattan.  I was also trying to vary the tones in the foreground to indicate different states of moisture from snow to ice (darker) to water (darkest).

Painting these small "daily" paintings has been a great tool for self-education and growth for an amateur-turned professional artist, which is who I am.  Last year I retired from teaching history at a college, something I had been doing over twenty years, and began with much trepidation the adventure of a self-employed , starving artist.  One doesn't get younger.  It was now or never to do something I truly wanted.  Wish me luck!

"Snow Trees" (oil on linen; 8" x 12") sold

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I had a photograph which was so underexposed that it almost looked black and white.  But it had an intriguing design I wanted to explore--a line of snow-coated trees along a dark band of a creek flowing through snow fields.  I photoshoped it to lighten the darks.  It looked better; but it still had hardly any colors, which wasn't a disaster.  I could "make up" colors easily, you see.  Browns for the trees, dark blues for the creek, and various whites for the snow.  The painting isn't really about color.  It's about design.

The photo's picture plane was originally divided into two by the biggest tree, which I moved a little to the left.  Other trees were also moved a bit this way and that way, so that the painting has three groupings of trees: the papa group in the middle, the mama group on the right, and the lone tree (baby!) on the left.  The snow field across the creek is sunlit; the snow bank in the foreground is in the shadow.  So are all the trees.  I had a lot of fun painting wet snow clinging to the trees--trunks, branches, twigs, and all.  Oh, I wish it would snow!

"Winter Creek" (oil on linen; 8" x 10") sold

"Winter Creek"
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"Winter Morning" (oil, 9" x 12")
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Both paintings above are based on the pictures I took many winters ago down the street along Holmes Run in Alexandria, VA.  We don't usually get much snow in northern Virginia.  So whenever there is a bit of snowfall, it is a snow day and everybody is happy.  I am from a country (South Korea) that gets lots of snow every year.  I've got to see snow in winter; otherwise, I feel deprived.

And I love to paint snowscapes.  Although it gives local residents much pleasure, Holmes Run is a small creek, not a particularly scenic one at that.  But look at my paintings!  It's the snow that transformed an ordinary creek into a winter wonderland.  No omnipresent, oppressive greens as leaves had fallen.  White snow, which has hints of the sun's warmth, makes big bold shapes or sparkling, lacy tendrils.  The creek with wonderfully fuzzy reflections of bare trees on the opposite bank is a bonus, which provides a nice dark shape in the middle ground.  I hope we get some nice snow this winter, not just dustings.

"Winter Walk" (acrylic on illustration board, 20" x 30") sold

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Nature is not famous for moderation, and has hit the Northeast with another huge snowstorm.  This time, Washington, DC got caught in her furor as well.  Hundreds of thousands of homes are without power; some drivers got stranded on George Washington Parkway for up to 13 hours!  Oh, well.  At least children are home having fun playing in the snow.  

The sun is out. I am going to take a walk in the neighborhood park and take some pictures.  The park has provided many inspirations for my artwork over the years, and maybe I will get lucky today.  The painting won the Second Place in the Potomac Valley Watercolorists show in 2004, and was juried into the Art League show in Alexandria, VA in 2006.