In and Out

Here’s how things look at the end of Day 5. I worked on it a bit this morning but had to quit when the clouds parted and the bright sunlight flooded across the canvas. Since I couldn’t tell you when the last time we had a sunny day here, I hated to waste it! I gathered up my plein air painting gear, fixed a thermos of coffee and went on my merry way.

I didn’t have to go far to find something compelling. This is right down the road from my house. Most of our snow has melted but I loved the rag-tag patterns of snow that remained. There were cast shadows on the snow from the tall trees across the road that I didn’t want to ignore. It was kind of chilly and breezy, so I did my best to scrunch everything into the front seat of my little Ford Ranger and sit in relative comfort. Why suffer needlessly? That’s my motto!

Good thing I went out to paint when I did. Right after I finished this the clouds rolled back in. I returned to the studio and went back to work on the still life. Ah, retirement is good!