There's an amazing thing that happens in a Midwest winter. The color of the landscape gradually becomes more and more muted until there is almost no color at all. That's when we can enjoy the beauty in the vast variety of grays: warm taupe y grays, cool blue grays, piercing midnight grays, and the most delicate soft, soft off whites.
"Winter Reflection on Moot's Creek", oil on linen canvas, 20" x 16"
Snow, wonderful snow, is a major contributor to this huge range of values and textures: as it falls quietly, or in a blizzard, or blows across the prairie, rising as well as falling. Dead and dormant plant life, sunlight or the lack of it, and snow---that's it. I've been wanting to try to capture those qualities on canvas-the soft gray landscape with just the hint of color. When I look at the winter landscape, many times I think there is no color at first, but then I see it, the evergreen spruce or pale golden grasses.
The creek just west of Brookston, IN is Moot's Creek. The little bridge that crosses it gives a painter a perfect vantage point. When the sun is out, the shadows are dramatic on the snow, but when it's overcast with a light snow falling, that's when all the grays are there to relish.
"Moot's Creek in January", oil on linen canvas, 18" x 24"
I hope you have some beautiful landscapes nearby this winter which are full of many grays . As always, you can see all my paintings on my web site www.kathrynclarkfineart.com. Thank you for viewing my paintings and reading my rambles. If you know of others who might like to get this artist blog, please pass this along to them, and you know I love to read your comments. Next week I fly to Eugene, Oregon for two to three months to help my sister. (My husband, Howard, will hold down the homestead and continue to build the addition on it.) Spring is in the air there already in Oregon; flowers start to appear in February. Nature never stands still.
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