Beauty and the Beast

Just getting back to normal here..what ever that is...after a tremendous snow and ice storm swept through several days ago. We lost power for two days but consider ourselves fortunate because there are still people without it! We have a generator and that sweet little machine kept us here and comfortable too...a very good investment..
Not much opportunity to get into the studio however...digging out takes a lot of time....
But there is always a positive side..so I posted some photos taken right after the storm and a day or two since..The snow is still sticking to the north side of the trees even after 5 days. ..the wind really blew and plastered everything. It is quite beautiful around here but very costly and time consuming to clean up..ice dams on the roof, drains to clear, snow banks to push back so we can see traffic when heading out. Steve took an afternoon to straighten up the graceful birches that line our driveway..they were completely bent over, bowing to the snow god. The bird feeders are almost level with the snow..the squirrels are ecstatic.
It's so lovely but exhausting.
By the way my studio is the second floor of our home which is in one of the photos here. I'll post a few photos taken from that perspective on the next blog.
We live in a winter wonderland..might as well enjoy...

Durham in Winter Revisited

I love the winter light here in Maine, especially late afternoon when the shadows are long and dramatic. There's a rosy glow on everything touched by the low riding northern sun and it's my favorite season to take photos for future study and paintings.
This is a 5 x 7 casein of just such a scene. I originally painted a more expansive view in a 14 x 11 watercolor(see below) several years ago and that painting sold very quickly(hooray!) but the image still fascinates me and I feel compelled to explore it further.

I've tightened up the composition this time to focus more on the maple tree, which is what really drew me to take pictures of the scene in the first place. The loosely rendered barn roof and top story of the farmhouse help put the upward looking view into context. The absurd angles and shapes of the tree branches resemble knarly old elbows and fingers to me and provide an interesting play between light and shadow and hard and soft edges.

I'll tweak the casein study a little by adding some cast shadows to the farm house, adjust the hue of the siding to slightly more orange, then go for a larger painting in pastel.