Grey day in the Brown County State Park with temperatures in the mid-thirties and a gorgeous vista! I love the way the snow is so white against the trees and grey sky. This is a highly visible spot to paint along the main road with a small parking area for the scenic overlook. Since this is an activity as part of the Arts in the Park grant I received from the Indiana Arts Commission and the Department of Natural Resources to celebrate the bicentennial of the state of Indiana, I wanted to maximize exposure to park visitors.
I was able to park my car in the small lot nearby and carry my gear to this vista. Easy peasy!! MUCH easier than backpacking deep into the woods to paint.
For this painting, I started with the gleaming, sparkling white of the snow in the foreground. If you follow my blogs, you know I usually start with the darks but this time I started with the lightest, brightest white snow. I wanted to capture that virgin white and use it to set the values of the background colors.
I say "virgin white" but I never use paint straight out of the tube. I mixed a violet from magenta crimson and ultra and cerulean blues to get a nice crystal snow blue violet, mixing it with lots of titanium white. I wanted the white to be fresh, like the snow.
Here you can see my painting with the vista. Hard to compete!
Temps felt quite warm after working outside in the low twenties just the day before! The paint stays workable rather than turning sticky and making "icicles" of the paint.
And here you can see the finished painting:
"Snowy Vista in the State Park", 021516 12x12, oil on panel, by Charlene Marsh.
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Happy Trails!
Charlene
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