Painting Snow...
I was recently emailed asking for advice on painting snow. So I decided to post my response here, since this is something I’ve been thinking about lately as I paint outside.The image above is from last winter, and is mostly the side of a white house, but the ideas are all the same. The painting above is 30×40″.
As for painting snow… as always, paint what you see. The most helpful hints are probably things that will help you notice certain light/color effects. Once you notice them, you can try to paint them. First of all, snow isn’t white. It’s many colors. Snow can reflect the blue sky at mid day or a yellow sky in the evening. Snow can reflect the color of a nearby building. Snow on the roof of a building will be a different color than the snow on the ground in front of that building. On the roof the snow may be angled to reflect more of the sky color, or less. There may be a tree somewhere changing the amount of light that hits the snow. Snow is a great equalizer in the landscape. In a field of grass there are variations in how the light hits different parts, but there is also a change in how the local color of the grass… some will be greener than others, some may go a bit browner. With snow, however, the whiteness of the snow should be pretty uniform, so you are really getting a chance to study how light is working its way across the landscape. Yesterday I painted a white building in a field of snow, and it was amazing to try to figure out which way the different whites were leaning in hue and value.
For practical tips, I would say to be very careful to look at where the whitest white is. Note that spot, and then look at how much darker in tone different parts of the snow are in comparison. Try to notice if the whitest white is even pure white. It might not be. Painting a snowy field can be like a study in subtle shifts of grays. As important as tone is for getting a sense of light, you should also look for a temperature shift. These tone and color shifts are all exaggerated when you look into the sun and a snow covered trail, path, tree or building is backlit. These things are less obvious when the sun is at your back. Most importantly, paint what you see. And if the painting isn’t working, compare it to what you see happening in nature.
Posted on Friday January 22, 2010 | 4 Comments
4 Responses to “Painting Snow”
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Another beauty, Colin. When you paint something this size, is it a studio painting?
This painting was done as a studio painting, but occasionally I will work on a painting this size on site and do most, or all, of the painting outside. That’s a bit harder to do in the winter though. I used to do a fair amount of bigger paintings, 30×34+, outside. Now I do that if I have a clear idea of what I’m going to try to do, but have moved some of these projects indoors where I can have a bit more time to work on the painting.
This is a wonderful example of the vast range of colors “white” can be! While it’s not so obvious with other colors, I think the same effects of the different qualities of light apply. Nice description and a lovely painting.
Colin,
Your painting are poetry on canvas.
Not only do you have great vision, you have great execution.
Thanks for the lesson, too.
XO,
Mary