BOBBI HEATH PAINTINGS
  • Home
  • Shop
    • Kitchen Paintings
    • Mini Landscapes
    • Plein Air
    • On the Water
    • Note Card Sets >
      • Dinghy Note Card Set 1
      • Dinghy Note Card Set 2
      • Boats Note Card Set
      • Summer Note Card Set
      • Winter Note Card Set
    • How to Buy a Painting
    • Your Own Custom Painting
    • Gallery Representation
  • Blog
  • Events
  • Classes
    • Classes Login
    • Values Download
    • Classes and Workshops
    • What's It Like to Study With Bobbi
    • Materials Lists
  • Resources
    • Beginning Painting Tips
    • Managing Multiple Projects
    • Framing
    • Your First Plein Air
    • Notes - Confident Drawing
    • Test Page
    • Videos
  • About Bobbi
  • Contact

The Challenges of Painting Snow

12/13/2020

6 Comments

 
Picture
Icy Brook 8"x10" oil on canvas
We’ve had our first snow of the season here in New England and the second is on it’s way. And this week in my zoom class we are going to paint snow. Painting snow is a bit different than a non-snow landscape. As you might expect, values are still the most important thing, the challenge is being able to see them.

Picture
Snow Fence 6"x6" oil on canvas panel - Available
The prominence of shadows in snow scenes gives the artist a wonderful design element, with their strong geometric shapes in the ground plane, and the color options. What drew me to the scene above was the interesting shadows cast onto the snow covered park by the slanted tops of the fence posts.

Picture
Picture
Sometimes I’ll try out ideas using the ArtRage app on my iPad. The above images were created that way by “painting” on top of the photos of summer plein air oil paintings.

Picture
Snow on the River 12"x12" oil on canvas - Available
Color is the fun part of a snow painting. The traditional approach is make the shadows cool and the lighted areas warm. Typically we think of the colors on the blue side of the color wheel as cool and those on the orange side as warm. In the above painting, I've used a whole spectrum of blues in the snow, water, and sky. The trees bring in a warm element.

Picture
Strawberry Banke 5"x7"  plein air oil on canvas panel
Plein air painting in the snow is a real challenge. There’s the weather to contend with. You have to keep warm, but still be able to move around. The paint gets very stiff. And the shadows seem to move even faster than in the summer. And then there’s the parking. I know, that sounds weird. But in New England many lovely public open spaces where I like to paint don’t plow their parking lots in the winter, so options are limited unless you want to add a snow shoe trek to the project!

6 Comments
Pam Baumeister link
12/15/2020 08:16:09 am

These paintings are gorgeous, Bobbi! Painting the snow is something I’d like to get better at doing.

Reply
Bobbi Heath link
12/22/2020 06:11:03 am

It's all about the values, Pam. Try it in black and white first, Also I think it's very hard in watercolor, because there is so much to leave unpainted.

Reply
bob van lindt link
12/15/2020 10:37:24 am

Great Inspiring If I was involed w/ writing & filming a video -I would go right out and painr!

Reply
Bobbi Heath link
12/22/2020 06:11:58 am

Wow, Bob, that sounds right up your alley. I'll look forward to hearing more about it!

Reply
Fiona link
12/16/2020 11:46:07 pm

Snow On The River is a fabulous painting, Bobbi! We don’t get much snow here, certainly not normally enough to cause parking problems!

Reply
Bobbi Heath link
12/22/2020 06:13:20 am

Thank you, Fiona! The wonderful Robert Abele gave me lots of good advice as I was painting it. I'm at the age where I could use a bit less snow in the winter, but I do still enjoy the beauty of it.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Bobbi - Painter. Sketcher. Teacher. Boat and Dog Lover.

    2009-2019 blogposts are located HERE

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2017
    January 2017

    RSS Feed

Join my list to be notified of new classes, workshops, and painting collections!
Join Bobbi's List

978-496-8559

  • Home
  • Shop
    • Kitchen Paintings
    • Mini Landscapes
    • Plein Air
    • On the Water
    • Note Card Sets >
      • Dinghy Note Card Set 1
      • Dinghy Note Card Set 2
      • Boats Note Card Set
      • Summer Note Card Set
      • Winter Note Card Set
    • How to Buy a Painting
    • Your Own Custom Painting
    • Gallery Representation
  • Blog
  • Events
  • Classes
    • Classes Login
    • Values Download
    • Classes and Workshops
    • What's It Like to Study With Bobbi
    • Materials Lists
  • Resources
    • Beginning Painting Tips
    • Managing Multiple Projects
    • Framing
    • Your First Plein Air
    • Notes - Confident Drawing
    • Test Page
    • Videos
  • About Bobbi
  • Contact