16 x 20 – Acrylic on Wood

The sky is in – a delicate echo of the snow and the water. It’s one of those winter days where the sky is grey and quiet, not even up to the effort of producing a little snow.

16 x 20 – Acrylic on Wood

I have the rest of the trees in now, bracketing the icy pond. The trees on this side catch the last of the afternoon sun and provide a deceptive illusion of warmth.

16 x 20 – Acrylic on Wood

Time for the background trees. A little light hits the tops of the far ridge, but it’s not one of those bright and sunny winter days – instead it’s one where the very air is almost white and the cold affects the very colour of things.

16 x 20 – Acrylic on Wood

More snow has been invoked and it was fitting because today was almost like winter. It snowed for about 5 minutes, but then the sun came out and banished it.

I’m finding that I am encapsulating some shapes into specific areas like snowy bank, or tree line, and then letting a few shapes escape into the rest of the painting. I think I want to explore doing that more.

16 x 20 – Acrylic on Wood

I’ve started to put in the background trees – I wanted to see what they would look like. The sun will just kiss the top of the trees, bringing some lighter blues and even a few yellows. I want that to echo with the lighter area in the pond.

16 x 20 – Acrylic on Wood

Some of the far shore is visible against the icy water. In some spots the land, the ice and the water merge together until it’s hard to tell where one begins and another ends. More of my feeling that everything is the same – the shapes and colours may vary a bit but not enough to change the essence. It’s sort of like karate to me where a strike, a block, a punch are all the same – intent matters, and perspective. It doesn’t matter what you call a thing, it’s all just labels anyways. I’m possibly not explaining it well – good thing I’m a painter and not a writer.

Thaw

16 x 20 – Acrylic on Wood

I love Klimt’s landscapes for their distinctive patterns, rich colour  and delightful detail. I also notice however, that there’s very little push/pull of light and shadow, and forms don’t resolve strongly – this is something that I want to work on more in my own work this year. It feels like a very fine line I’m walking, I need the abstract patterns and the realist hit at the same time.

I have painted more of the water this session. It’s a little lighter away from the shore and not as frozen.

Thaw

16 x 20 – Acrylic on Wood

I started this painting intending to paint a quiet scene with a still pond just beginning to thaw as winter warmed to spring. As I painted I realized that the water wasn’t still at all. Everything, including a quiet pond is constantly moving, changing, flowing together and apart in a sinous dance…

How do you paint change? How do you reconcile a thing that imparts stillness with the fact that nothing is still at all? The tree and the water and the air between them are all the same – crashing together and rushing apart only to merge again.