Chinook, Squall & Panettone

The weather has been quite varied lately, and downright nasty. We had two days of blustery Chinook winds that melted most of the snow, followed by a winter squall that drove temperatures back down and coated the north facing surfaces with ice. It has settled down now into relative calm and high clouds. This little study was from a couple of days ago when it was windy and cold and lightly snowing, just before the weather went wild. As you can see, it was pretty dreary that day. I'm not very good yet at making dreary days look beautiful. Oil on linen 8x6. 

Boxing Day Calm

I did get out to paint today, but I can't say that I'm happy with them; a combination of hurrying too much and not settling into confident deliberate brushwork. I didn't quite earn my cassata though since they aren't decided candidates for the recycle pile. It was a supremely gorgeous day: an inch of fresh powder to keep the landscape looking clean, dazzling sunshine, soft clouds, calm winds, and a temperature just below freezing. My new boot warmers ended up getting delivered to California, so I will have to tough it out with cold feet. There seems to be some puzzlement about what boot warmers are. They are rechargeable battery powered insoles that slip into your boots. They run about 9 hours on a charge. Just the thing for standing in knee deep snow while painting. Each oil study is 8x6.

Christmas Day Snow

All I wanted for Christmas was snow to paint and boot warmers. The boot warmers haven't arrived yet, but the snow did in abundance. Painting snow is one of my most favorite things so I'm a happy girl today even if my toes and fingers are still trying to thaw. These two oil studies are 8x6 inches.