Snow Day - Step-by-Step Demo

To combat the cold, I softened a pile of white with Neo Megilp
Premixed greys to match value structure

These were the thumbnails I started with to determine the layout.
I did these very quickly because it was so cold but you can see that a few simple marks
can help guide your composition.

Drawing - done with grey marker - Normally would
use brush & paint but this was fast.

Thinned application of warm darks to mass in shapes
I like the look of the thinned, loosely mixed and colorful darks.

Modeling the darks with more paint and adding variety in colors and brushwork.
Began adding sky with palette knife.

Worked greys into background trees to show atmosphere.
Working back and forth between sky color and tree colors to define trees and branch structures.
It's difficult for me to get the effect I want with the fine branches.
I like adding sky holes by lightly dragging sky color over the mass of branches with my palette knife.
That gives a variety of edges. 

Me in my winter painting attire.
Brim of the hat block sun glare, hood blocks wind, down coat keeps the heat in!
Painting in snow is very bright but I don't wear sunglasses since they alter color and value.
Not wearing sunglasses is not so good for my eyes though :-(

Finished painting - after adding warmer, lighter snow masses and snowflakes.
"Snow Day" | 9"x12" | Oil

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