Blog

Winter Dawn, 16 x 16," oil on canvas panel, Available.

My love of snow probably started with having a January birthday and a father from Québec who taught us to ski and ice skate.

My family celebrated snow days like holidays. I loved the surprise of waking up to a snow-covered world and listening for the school closings on the radio. We’d then tear outside to explore the mysterious shapes (is that the picnic table?). We’d always go sledding, and as we got older, we’d go downhill skiing.

In college, I switched to cross-country skiing and learned traditional waxing methods during a weekend clinic sponsored by the Outing Club. Cross-country skiing quickly became my favorite sport. The snow-covered forests and fields of Central Massachusetts offered sights that would remain with me and influence my paintings years later. After college, I discovered Yellowstone and Yosemite National Parks being out on cross-country skis, gathering more sketches and photographs that eventually became paintings. Getting out on skis was truly how I learned the texture and color of snow.

After the Fire, Yellowstone, watercolor, 11 x 21," 1993, Private Collection.

I still wax my beloved 1974 wooden skis each year and wait for the beginning of the snow season. Unfortunately, the season gets shorter each year in Pennsylvania, so each snowfall has more meaning for me as an artist. I never tire of seeing the transformation a snowfall brings, turning the familiar to the unfamiliar, the mundane into the beautiful.

Corn field in winter, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Photo.

The transformation of the landscape into simple shapes and values (relative lightness and darkness) can feel as timeless and elegant as a black and white photograph or pen and ink drawing. I suspect the absence of many different colors allows our minds to relax.

Like snowflakes, no two snow days are alike. Some are calm and quiet, others windy, bitter cold, or mild and damp. There are endless snow-covered landscapes to be painted.

Painting snow scenes turns some rules of landscape painting upside down. For most of the year, the lightest value in a painting is the sky.  Sunny snow days reverse this convention and the (snow-covered) ground becomes lighter than the sky. Fun!

I also appreciate the way snow days simplify the painting process. There’s no need to mix the many greens that I confront most of the year. I only need a handful of paint tubes/colors.

Speaking of colors, what color is snow? Is it white?

I invite you to look at the paintings here and compare the color of the snow to a piece of white paper or to the white banner across the top of your screen. You’ll see yellow, pink, orange, blue and purple -  no white at all!  This is because snow acts like a mirror - it reflects the color of the sky and objects around it. 

Winter Dawn, oil on canvas panel, 16 x 16” Available.

Before dawn, snow is fairly dark and reflects the cool blue of the sky.

Winter Harvest, oil on panel, 6 x 14” Available.

At noon, under full sun, snow can appear yellow, pink, and orange.  This plein air painting was done on one of the coldest days of the year. It was about 10 degrees Fahrenheit yet there were many warm colors in the landscape. I was drawn to the gold of the field and the reds of the tree buds and branches, ready to flower in the spring.

Appalachian Winter, oil on panel, 12 x 21” Sold

A sunny snow day is full of energy and excitement. There are fabulous long blue shadows and the snow is as bright as white sand on a beach. Colorful barns stand out against the cool blue mountains.

Ski Trail, oil on panel, 16 x 12," Available

Ski Trail is about stopping to look back. With skis pointed forward and poles planted for balance, I turned to catch a last glimpse of the frozen lake as the trail lead away from it. The snow isn’t very deep, I’ve just come down a small hill, and am pausing to feel the warm sun and to listen to the soft wind in the hemlock trees. This painting illustrates three of my great loves – sun on snow, cross-country skiing, and palette knife painting. 

Now that I’ve talked about the techniques and challenges of painting snow, I’ll tell you the main reason I do it.

It is just so much fun!

When I paint snow scenes, I return to being a child looking out the window in amazement, about to race outside.  

Do you feel the excitement of snow days too? Let me know in your comments below.

Blueberry Field, oil on canvas, 12 x 48,” Private collection.