Breakfast

What a challenge! I believe had it not been for having painted snow en plein air, I could not have created this work in the studio. The photo reference used was from a trip to paint February snow several years ago in Wisconsin. I snapped this as we were driving home. The photo is blurry, the farm very far off in the distance, and it is a gray day. Still, I knew there was something about the shapes in the image if only I could let go of the reference and only use the buildings as inspiration. And of course, being Wisconsin, I had to add a cow. Who doesn't love cheese? Using lots of warm, earth colors sets off the coolness of the blinding white snow without having to use any pure white. Gentle shifts of hue and even slighter shifts of value give the mounds of snow form. This is very difficult to do in a front-light setting. But that was the challenge I set for myself. This painting has 90% light and only 10% shadow. What a fun experiment.