We are so lucky to be living in a day where anything we need to grow as an artist can be found on the web. The information is out there, it’s a matter of taking time to sort through the noise to find what’s best for our personal artistic needs. In my case recently it’s gathering information on mixing snow colors, building layers of acrylic paints to give a scene depth, getting good values, color harmony, and achieving atmospheres that I envision for my work.
A Country Road Snow Study, is an acrylic painting (8×10) painted on a gesso-prepared board. This painting is based on a youtube video that I saw done by artist Michael Pickett at http://www.pickettonline.com (A Country Road Snow Scene). I’m not going to rate his video or painting, rather say that I picked up a few things like: using layers of paint to build a scene, mixing snow colors, establishing light and shadows, and the effects by several types of brushes. While I stayed close to Michael’s instructions, my snow shadow colors are more of a bluish hue with a hint of red.
I’m hoping that over time the areas mentioned above will improve over time as I paint more snow scenes.
Thanks for checking in ~
DON’T TAKE MY IMAGES!! MY ART IS COPYRIGHTED.
PLEASE DON’T COPY OR USE THE IMAGE WITHOUT RECEIVING MY PERMISSION FIRST – SEE DISCLOSURE ON THE RIGHT PANEL.
Oil Pastels by Mary 
Reblogged this on Spiritual Challenges.
Thank you so much – means a lot. Beautiful words from an amazing writer.
Mary, I see you have really branched out in your media this past year (unlike me). It’s thrilling to behold.
Thank you Tom, you are very generous. I felt I needed a break from oil pastels and was wanting to try painting with a brush for a while now.
Beautiful, as always! Bravo, Mary!
Thank you Fabio for your generous comment!!
Like a Christmas card very pretty
Thank you my friend!
Terrific color choices, Mary!
Thanks Elena!!
A beautiful painting.
Thanks Joanna!
Beautiful light behind those trees and finding its way to the snowy road.
Thank you Heidi – the light way in the background is what drew me to paint the scene.
Very nice! I like your choice of colors. ~Rita
Thanks Rita. The foreground shadow colors have slightly more bluish tone than what is showing here, but it’s the best representation I could get. Hope you have a wonderful weekend.
makes me want to travel that road 🙂
Thank you Heath, much appreciated!
Absolutely stunning!! You are incredibly talented, my friend. Thank you for brightening up my day with your lovely artwork. ❤
Thank you Eva for your lovely feedback and compliment – I’m glad you enjoyed the painting.
Of course! 🙂
Your lovely rendition reminds me of home and the snowshoe trails we’ll be tackling soon. The wonders of the web are a blessing to me too. I used it to find pictures and stances as models for the animals in my children’s book. Happy Holidays! ❤
Thank you so much Bette – nothing better than having one of my paintings bring back pleasant memories for you. I think the positives outweigh the negatives with the information highway. Happy Holidays back to you – have a wonderful weekend.
So nice work of this landscape.
Thank you for your kind thoughts on this painting.
This is beautiful, Mary, and it feels to me like the snow is blowing as well. I love the feeling from this road, the winding and yet the coziness of the trees around me. 💜
Thank you Laura, I enjoyed your feedback as seen through your artistic eye! Have a great weekend.
This reminds me of the line, “….and I took the path less travelled”… 🙂
So great Maniparna, thank you!
The trees are pretty detailed here…lovely, once again!
Thank you Alok – appreciate it!
The internet definitely opens the possibilities of learning, Mary. I use it, too. Your painting is wonderful. So realistic, I hope the driver of the car who’s tires made those tracks got home safely! 🙂
We are lucky, right? Thanks Geralyn for your comments on this one – so funny a lot of roads like this in the Northeast during winter that I’m sure you are familiar with. Have a great weekend.
Beautiful brushwork Mary, somewhat different from your usual style but nevertheless impressive.
Love the harshness and somewhat cold foreground leading into a soft and warmer background, beautifully layered. Your studies are always wonderful and I love how you describe the technique and process of creating and follow up with an assessment. Skill improvement is almost a never ending process, there is always something we can work on constantly and I love your dedication!
Hi Eva, thank you and you’re right it’s a bit different than my usual. The artist used more black than what I’m used to, but the harshness of the dark foreground was somewhat interesting. If I did the scene over I think I’d use a several darker hues rather than back to perhaps create more harmony within the scene. But none-the-less it was a good study that emphasized areas I needed work on – thanks for encouraging my efforts. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
The layers of painting and colors made such a beautiful painting! Thank you for sharing, Mary! 🙂
Thanks Amy – I like that you are seeing the different layers, very cool thanks for mentioning! Have a great weekend.
Lovely, Mary! It almost looks like a photograph…it looks so real.
Thanks so much Jill – really appreciate it! Hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Stunning, Mary! I love the purple haze.
Thanks so much Sarah – you’ve made my day!
Chilly cool depths along the forest track Mary … and a warmth to anticipate reaching the sunshine just around the corner …
I’ve great admiration for your dedication and call to art … so lovely to see the results and hear your enthusiasm for it all 🙂
Thank you Poppy for your generous comment and noticing the background, that little area is what caught my attention. Thank you always for your encouraging support – I get a lot of satisfaction when creating and seeing what’s possible. I could stay locked up in my studio for days and never notice the loss of time ~
so beautiful dear Mary, you did great painting. Thanks and Love, nia
Thank you Nia so much for your lovely comment, means a lot.
Mary, what a delightful snow scene! love those shadows!!! 🙂
Thanks so much Debi!
Another skillful beauty, Mary
Thanks Derrick!
You are so right. We have resources today as artists that could only be dreamt of in previous times, including of course the materials we use. A beautiful image…and hoping you have a lovely weekend. Janet. 🙂
Thank you so much Janet, I’m very grateful to be able to pursue art at this stage in life and having advantages that earlier counterparts could only have dreamed of. We are very lucky. Have a wonderful weekend!
You are so right about that…the earlier part of my autobiography will say quite a bit about this…..and maybe the middle and later parts as well:) Always better late than never….think of all the wonderful talent you have had stored up inside. 🙂
Excellent drawing, you really captured a lot of detail on the road with simple bold strokes.
Thank you Shawn, really appreciate your response to the piece. Your description was exactly what I was discovering, simple strokes were giving me the more loose tire tracks I was hoping to achieve, I have a tendency to paint tighter – thanks for noticing!
Mary, you always brighten my day with you paintings. Beautiful!
ps I hope you are well. 🙂 Happy Thursday!
I miss your work Marina, thank you so much. I’m very happy to hear from you – happy Thursday to you as well. Take care my friend.
How fabulous! You even captured the snow smoke.
So cool Fiona you saw it!! Thanks so much, you made my day.
I admire your constant pursuit of new techniques and inspiration. This is lovely, Mary.
Thank you so much Audrey – I really enjoy the aspect of figuring things out and getting the “ah-ha” moments.
impressive and beautiful work!
You are so kind, thank you for your kind feedback!
You are such a wonderful study-er and learner, Mary. Here’s what I see….the pink part of the snow seems as pressed down as the ruts from where a vehicle has passed, so at first I was a bit confused….but I finally got it! It’s a country road, after all, not a highway. There are a lot of interesting things going on here, not only in brushwork but in the special effect you get by the juxtaposition of red and green complementaries. I find it unusual, with a lot to ponder. Keep up the good work, until you satisfy your own artistic soul!
Loved reading your feedback Cynthia, thank you! This was a great scene to learn from, especially the tree work (first time painting with a fan brush), but mainly it was the layers of building the snow on the road. I’m not entirely sold on the light reddish-purple hue I ended up with on the road, but mixing snow colors will come with time. Two things I think need to be revisited: 1) the trees are too much alike, a little bend here and there would have added interest, and 2) the red-purplish hue needed to be incorporated into the middle of the trees within the sunny area, creating better harmony. My main objective of this scene was figuring out how to paint a snowy forest scene with a snowy road, I just happened to come across the youtube video and thought why not give it a try. Thank you always for your encouraging support, can’t help but love working with acrylics.
And I am tickled pink that you are daring to move into a new medium ….you are already really good at it….lord knows where you will take it! 🙂
Beautiful work!
Thank you so much!
Welcome!
Miss Mary
Whatever the subject or season your work shines
big hugs
uncle john
You are so nice Uncle John, thank you so much!!
I looove it!! 💖❄️💖❄️
Thank you Trini!!
😊😊
Just awesome Mary! I love snow scenes, and this is extremely well done.
Thanks so much Nicodemas!
Mary there is a link in your message that did not work. If you were sending me something beautiful, please let me know! Peace.
This is really lovely, Mary. I think your trees are so realistic and the snow looks really cold. You’re so right about how useful a tool the Internet is. Of course one has to have some knowledge and skill to be able to follow the instructions. 😄
Thank you so much Sylvia – I really enjoyed working those trees, they reminded me of the tall pine trees back East. Always love and appreciate your kind words my friend.
You keep excelling… surpassing yourself. I love it here, thank you!
Thank you Resa for your kind words of encouragement!.
This is an incredible scene Mary – I absolutely love your execution of the techniques you picked up from the video. Thanks for sharing, I look forward to more of your work 🙂
Thank you for you most kind comment ~
And the nice thing about blogging is that I get exposed to artists like you! Well done! The road beckons to us.
Can’t tell you how much I appreciate your kind feedback! Thank you ~