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| My copy of a detail of George Bellows' "The Palisades" |
The light is sharper in winter and the skies more dramatic. I love the elongated shadows that seem so much more prominent in this season than in others. Yes, it is cold out but I would take this weather over the triple digit, humid, buggy days of last summer. So, why don't I paint winter scenes? Simple answer, I am not good at them. Solution, learn to be.
My favorite George Bellows paintings are the early ones, particularly the winter scenes along the Hudson. I prefer his winter trees to his summer ones. Winter trees have always been a stumbling block for me. It has been a long time since I have copied a master painting and I had forgotten how much you can learn. Yesterday I pulled out an 8x8 inch clear primed linen panel and painted this detail of "The Palisades" painted in 1909. The original is 30x38 inches. I would like to spend time doing more of these and as they are copies just for study purposes it is best to stay small. Added to my usual palette was Prussian blue, thalo blue and Payne's gray. The other colors I used were ultramarine blue, cerulean blue, cadmium red, alizarin red, yellow ochre, cadmium yellow, naples yellow, burnt sienna and titanium white. It took some time mixing colors to come close to those in the Bellows painting. I found some wonderful greens with Prussian blue and ochre.
I haven't decided which painting I will tackle next but I am sure it will involve painting bare trees. The test of what I have learned is when I go out and paint more of my own winter scenes such as the one I showed you yesterday.
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| The plein air corner of my studio showing warmer days |
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