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

sold

It is never too soon to wish for a snowy winter.  As I was growing up in Seoul, Korea, we had snow every winter.  It was no big deal.  When I lived in Minnesota for graduate work, we had too much snow.  I was sick of snow.  They had a foot of snow in April this year!  Now I live in northern Virginia, I yearn for snow.

Yes, we sometimes get snow, as you can see in my new snow painting.  Last two years, however, have been very disappointing; we got a bit of dusting every now and then.  My daughter, who loves snow and cold weather in general, decided to go to college in Minnesota!

If you send me your pictures to kimstenbergart@gmail.com, I may make paintings out of them.  How fun is that!  At the end of September, I will do a drawing and one lucky person wins a free painting.  You can buy the painting anytime, but there is no obligation.  Thanks!

Today is Day Ten of Leslie Saeta's 30 in 30 Challenge.  20 more paintings to go!  What did I get myself into!

"Winter Woods" (oil on linen; 12" x 12")

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Take a walk in the woods on a winter day.  There is a light cover of snow on the ground.  The late afternoon sun casts long, blue shadows over the snow and fallen trees.  Dry leaves still dangling on bare branches catch the sun and glow.  A magical moment to savor.

"Where Buffaloes Roam" (oil on linen; 8" x 12") sold

sold

Reference photo

Have you ever seen a buffalo really close up?  I did.  Last month my family were driving through Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota at sunset, enjoying the views.  We spotted a buffalo herd (there are over three hundred bison in the southern unit, where we were).  What a treat!  As you can see above, the lighting was ideal--with the setting sun streaking its golden rays through the trees and caressing sage-strewn grass field.  We went wild and started clicking cameras.

Suddenly something dark and huge went by within inches of the side of the car.  Oh, my god!  It was a stray bison.  You see that's why we stayed inside the car; if we hadn't, I might have been trampled.  Never go near these huge untamed wildlife!

"Sheep Country, Yorkshire" (watercolor on paper, 10" x 6 1/2" each) sold

sold

"Sheep Country, Yorkshire" was an interesting exercise in Carolyn Gawarecki's class that I took several years ago at the Art League School in Alexandria, VA.  We were to paint a triptych, each painting with a distinct foreground, middle ground, and background.  Then we had to assign the different values (light, mid-tone, and dark) to the three parts in each panel, never repeating the same scheme.  Colors were a secondary consideration and we had to focus on values.  A big headache!

The above painting is what I came up with.  The left panel has a light foreground, mid-tone middle ground, and dark sky; the center panel has a mid-tone foreground, dark middle ground, and light sky; and the right panel has a dark foreground, mid-tone middle ground, and light sky.  As it happens, the left panel has the feeling of an early morning; the center panel, that of the mid-afternoon; and the right panel comes across as a scene at dusk.  How about that!  Good teachers exercise our mind and force us to grow.  Thank you, Carolyn.

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

sold

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.