by Armand Cabrera
Since the first snow storms are here I thought I would throw in some observations for those artists willing to get out and paint in winter weather. Painting snow presents a unique challenge compared to other subjects. The relative brightness of the landscape can hurt your eyes even when the sun is not out, the extreme temperatures can affect more than your comfort and actually harm you if you aren’t smart or careful, and conditions can have an adverse affect on your materials.
Being aware of all these things, you may question why someone would want to paint outdoors in the snow in the first place. For me it is to capture the wonder and beauty the frozen landscape has to offer. Snow is almost impossible to photograph effectively so your only real alternative is to paint it from life. Colors must be organized for maximum effect, compositions carefully thought out and value ranges keyed for each picture.
There are some things about snow you should look for when painting; some of these things are observable but others must use constructive techniques express them in an image. Practice outdoors and trial and error are your best tools for these decisions.
There is always a slight bit of subsurface scattering going on in snow, even on overcast days, this softens transitions between light and shadow and gives the snow a tinge of the hue from whatever local color is affecting it. Where the sunlight hits snow, it spreads out in almost in a prismatic effect, the shadow areas pick up the light of the sky color and reflections from sunlit areas. Because of all of these effects snow is never pure white except where you have a direct highlight from the sun. When you are in a position to actually see the highlights, you quickly realize how much relatively darker the rest of the snow is even in the lit areas.
Different types of snow affect these properties in different ways. Snow that has been melted and refrozen looks and behaves differently than freshly fallen powder. Snow patches appear more contrasted because there is no snow around them. When there is snow everywhere, that snow has a tendency to lighten everything around it with reflected and ambient light lessening the contrast and raising the key of the painting over all. These things are observable and paintable if you are willing to get out, experience it and see it first hand for yourself.
Paintings in this article are, from top to bottom Aldro T. Hibbard,
Fritz Thaulow, Birge harrison, Isaac Levitan, Edward Redfield
Hi Armand. Thanks for this. Have recently moved to Michigan and vowed to paint this amazing winter landscape before too long. I've read somewhere about whipping up the white paint before going out to paint. Whipped with what? Medium? What sort? Any tips for getting the palette ready beforehand would be appreciated, or a reference to same.
Thanks, Ellie Harold
Another great entry, Armand. And thank you so much for introducing me to so many great artists.
kev
Ellie,
Thanks for asking. You whip your paint to keep it from getting too stiff in really cold weather. I personally don't use medium when I paint, but if you do, in colder weather you might want to increase the amount of oil in your medium.
Thanks Armand.
Great blog Armand…Thanks
One thing to remember if you are going out to paint in the winter, invest in the good boots. If your feet get cold it's all over. I read on Stapleton Kearns' blog about some people using an old piece of carpet to help with this. Stapleton uses some serious boots for this that are designed to keep your feet warm even if it drops to -30.
Layers and hand warmers are a good idea.
I recently was out painting in Vermont during Thanksgiving, and I completely forgot that it was beginning of hunting season. I was not wearing any orange which is not a good idea. I stayed near the road.
I was close enough the day I was painting and someone shooting close enough to me that I could spot them by the smoke from the guns. Be aware of hunting seasons and get warm boots and mittens.
Great selection.
The paintings all seem to rely on the impressionist blue/pink orange/purple combos- reflected light and shadows of the comlpimentary colour.
White paint alone will never look as bright.
Thanks for putting these up. I live in the south of the UK and need to paint snow. This has helped.
Sean