“Christmas Eve Morning” – 7″ x 11″
As the title suggests, this painting was done on the morning of December 24,
It’s a new viewpoint from a spot just over the Vermont/New York state line, but looking back toward the northeast into Vermont. Some warmer weather brought rain to the area, which melted a good bit of the snow cover that is apparent in “The Beginning“, done on two days earlier.
Like “The Beginning“, this painting features a long view of rolling fields – some partially snow-covered, others not – with distant mountains and tree lines.
Winter skies are usually quite interesting and colorful. The sky on this morning was very overcast, but active, with moving clouds obscuring direct sunlight but providing subtle warm colors mingling with the grays.
One challenge with any winter landscape is finding ways to depict the subtle, low-intensity colors along with the neutral grays and browns. Often there are areas of foliage that have subtle reds and oranges as there was in the nearest fields on this scene. Finding and including some of this subtle color along with color in the sky is one way to add vibrancy to winter scene.
