Happy New Year! I know it's been a couple months since I posted a blog. It's also been a while since I did a plein air in the winter. Today. I'm going to take care of both.
We had our first snow this past week. and yesterday, most of my day was spent clearing the sidewalks of the snow and the frozen ice underneath it. I'm sure my body is going to feel the effects of it for a couple days. But getting it out of the way meant I now have time to do some plein air painting the rest of the weekend. I prepared my backpack with my plein air supplies in the evening. The plan was to do my usual size of 11" x 14".
When I woke up today and checked my weather app, I was surprised to find out it was only 5°F and was only expected to get up to 11°F by the afternoon. The wind chill would make it feel like about -10°F below. I figured I could wait until tomorrow until I saw it was going to be an even colder day. If I were smart, I'd postpone this excursion for a warmer winter's day. But, the sun was out and I figured I could get a nice scene with beautiful shadows.
I dressed as appropriately as I could with thermal undergarments, layers of shirts, sweaters, etc. I had disposable foot and hand warmers to insert in my boots and gloves.I had a balaclavas to cover my face. I also decided to work smaller on an 8" x 10" RayMar panel since it could fit in my backpack so I had less to carry. I quickly toned them in orange with Liquitex Basics acrylic paint and used a hair blow dryer to dry them. Once I was all packed up, I kissed my wife goodbye and headed out to the sunny, but frigid, outdoors.
I drove to nearby Normandy Oaks Park and scouted the area for my subject. I chose a spot with parking very close to my painting set up in case I had to stop painting soon due to the cold and needed to head home quickly. That may have been the smartest decision I made all day.
I chose the distant sledding hill to be my focal point. I liked how it stood out against the background trees. The setting up took a little more time than I thought it would. It wasn't easy to do with my thick gloves and I was forced to take them off to finish the setup. I also had to remove my glasses, which frosted up almost immediately after I put on the face cover.
I decided to use only the primaries and white for the painting to make it easier. It was clear I wasn't going to be able to work on this very long. I wanted to use Ultramarine Blue for my blue but saw I didn't have a lot in my tube. Guess I wasn't as prepared as I thought I'd be. I settled for Cerulean Blue. I used Quinacridrone Magenta for my red and Cadmium Yellow Light for my yellow. I also squeezed out a good amount of Titanium/Zinc White.
Making a purplish brown mix, I used one of my painting knifes to do a rough drawing in. Then I applied a thin coat of darks throughout for the background trees, the evergreens in front of the hill, and the bluish gray shadows on the snow. I blocked in the sky and the snow best I could after that, trying to make sure those light colors didn't get tainted with the darks but found I wasn't successful at it. After I'd get a section painted right, my thick glove would wreck it when working on a different section. I think I painted and repainted the hill and the evergreens at least 3-4 times because of it. I knew I couldn't work on it unless I removed my glove from my right hand, so I took it off.
I was able to finally get the painting looking better all over but it was clear the cold was causing havoc on my bare fingers very quickly. Instead of thinking about how the paint strokes should look, I just scooped up paint and just applied it as quickly as possible in the area that needed it. I think I finished the painting about 10 minutes after the glove came off. In total, I probably worked on my painting about 40 minutes.
Putting the easel and the setup back to my car was the end of me being able to handle the outdoors. Again, I was forced to keep my gloves off to put the painting away, take down the easel, and load up the backpack. By the time I got into the car to drive away, my fingers were in pain from the cold. Luckily, I was home in just a few minutes. Within 10 minutes of being inside my warm home, my fingers were bak to normal. I waited another 15 minutes before I unloaded the car and put the supplies back in my basement studio. I touched up a couple small areas on the painting in the basement and then took a photo of it in my garage with the door open.
This is how the painting ended up looking.
I still see a couple horizontal gouges in the paint from the glove. I'm still undecided if I'll keep them or retouch them. The one on the upper right of the large evergreen really bugs me. But then again, those gouges will be a reminder of what it was like painting that day. That's why I practically never touch up a plein air painting after an outdoor session. Plein air paintings not only capture the scene, but also the experience. When I looks at the many plein air paintings I have sitting unframed in my large tub, I can remember pretty much paining every one of them and what it was like. Whether it was hot, cold, windy or if I was pestered with bugs or people and if I had a difficult or easier time painting it.
Although, my studio paintings typically work out better because I can plan the composition better and take my time with the rendering, I enjoy working in plein air more. It's an exciting challenge and I learn more about painting that way every time. I may not have had a comfortable experience today working on this painting, but I definitely had an unforgettable one. I'm glad I did it.
