Snow and Birch Trees

I have been teaching this past month and it has been so enjoyable. We have been dealing with snow by doing paintings of snowy mountains and the birch tree. There were some wonderful paintings done on these themes by the class. The birch tree is always a favorite. It has the contrast of a soccer ball with its black and white color. My demonstration was off balance so I added a small child with a sled to create some informal balance.

Birches and Snow

I attended a presentation by the Daniel Smith Watercolor representative and given the colors to test, I did a birch tree in snow. The Daniel Smith colors are very nice but I wondered how the colors on my palate would compare. One gets used to making colors by mixes so I tried a full scene.That is what you see here. Birches are like soccer balls in terms of contrasting values and easily become a focus. Snow is white paper where the sun hits and shades of blue where shadows or contours occur. I do see a difference in the water. This is a stream and should be very cold, hence, dark blue. I'm not sure that I captured that as well as the Daniel Smith color of Mayan Blue did. I can tweak it some more.

Black Diamond Mines

 I painted on a beautiful afternoon at the Black Diamond Mines in Antioch, CA.  Who would believe that coal was mined right outside the Bay Area.  It was a grand day weather wise and the hills were quite impressive.  There were lots of visitors to the park so the parking lot was full.  I got lost finding the park so set up my easel at the edge of the parking lot and hurried to catch up.  My painting at the end of the day was not finished so I took it home and finished it later.  This is unusual for me as most of my work is completed on site.

Birches Across the Street

There really are no birches across the street but the house was there and I wanted to show someone how to paint birch trees. It was fun. The weather has been like a steam bath here on Cape Cod. I have been painting but with no concentration. Lots going on with house guests and appointments. My show in Woodland is a success. I do have some other work that I need to put up on the blog.

Birches in the Snow

Birch trees are fun to paint and I had fun doing this one. My mountains are a bit heavy handed but my water is definitely cold looking. I am happy to only think about this scene as I really, really hate to be in cold weather. It may come from my days growing up and attending school in New England. I never want to be that cold again.
I tried to put a low lying fog behind the fir trees. I may try this one again but first I need to warm up!