Extreme Painting - Conquering Old Man Winter

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

We both love painting outside, especially in the winter, when the air is clear, the landscape is reduced to its architectural purity, and best of all, there are no insects chewing on us! But winter weather conditions are rarely moderate in the places we paint, so we have developed some strategies which enable us to work in relative comfort.

Our last trip in November to northern New Mexico was a little cold and windy, but dry, so the painting was good. We haven’t always been so lucky. There was a very memorable winter painting trip to Santa Fe a couple of years ago when the sky dumped 27 inches of snow on us, forcing us to get out our extreme-conditions painting clothes. The biggest reason we are motivated to brave the elements is for the light.

In winter, the sun is off to the south, and the light rakes across our latitude at an angle, causing longer shadows and greater contrasts, especially when there is snow cover. Snow reverses the usual sky/ground contrast, and the ground is now …