Cambridge Creek out back painting on the blanket

50  F  Sunny early clouds later.

It was a lovely morning, so I got on it early (at least for me) because I knew the sun wasn't going to stay.

I had a tough time coming up with the composition for this, and the verdict is not out yet, I like doing an intimate view of the creek and bank, I couldn't include the barn, with snow on the roof but 9 x 12 was not big enough to include it.

The trickiest thing is to get the snow shadows right, and I felt like I had to do that first (after the darkest color), before the trees or any other detail.

In some places the shadow looks like it's bluer in others, grayer.

The sun lit snow also had variations in it in addition to the complexity of the drawing of the pattern of light/shadow. But that really is the subject, so yeah, I better figure that out!

By the time I start putting the trees in, most all the other parts are close to figured out, the pattern of shadows determines where the trees will go, and you can get away with murder on that, as long as everything makes sense.

I started painting at 10:50, I thought I'd paint a view of the road out front, but the traffic whizzing by didn't appeal to me, and I thought I'd spare my kids the embarrassment. I finished at about 12:15, so I had about  1 1/2 hours actual painting time. Painting right here still takes time to organize and find my spot!

Right out my back door,  I could go all around the world and not find better (different, but not better!)

Here is my spot, The heavy wet snow blanketed the ground making it so nice and easy to work here, so lots of times you have opportunities, under conditions you would never expect to have them.

My pallet, I eliminated Cadmium Lemon, which I usually like. I also only had one blue.