Painting in the snow

Yesterday evening I had prepared my painting materials: mixing paint with water and medium, selecting the right paper, adding bottles with salty water I had taken from the sea, throwing in some brushes, etc.

This morning I was excited on one hand; couldn't wait to go out and paint. At the same time a bit worried this mission would prove to be too challenging, as it was -15 °C outside... freezing. Did I have everything with me, wouldn't I be too cold after a few minutes, hoping the wind wouldnt be too strong and blow the sheets away...

Around 9:45 I decided to go out, having delayed my departure with drinking some coffee with my son, but then just had to do it. The good thing about painting in these extreme conditions is that it forces you to let go of full control, especially important for someone like me with a dominance of ratio. Nothing goes the way you want it...



Well first I covered the paper with snow and dripped salty water on it to help the thawing process and have enough water to cover the paper. I looked around, enjoying the morning sun breaking through, and throwing a Naples white/ocher/cadmium yellow shiny layer over the snow; the trees creating shapes of multiple blues on the snow making it all a cold display of shapes cutting up the titanium white.



4 of the paintings in the snow

Then I started...the snow wouldn't melt, and even using the salty water did not make it melt at these temperatures...and normally for my technique I want the paper to be soaking wet, so it helps the colors mix and spread over the paper. Well, after letting go I came into a flow and in the end made 8 paintings. They just got created from improvising.
Getting home was relatively easy; normally the water would drip off the paper, but as they were covered with snow and temperatures were so low I could get them back home quite easily, without dripping too much. At home I had to deal with melting water and paint going everywhere, focusing first on keeping the paintings good, letting go when possible and then cleaning up all the mess. All in all drying took a few hours as well as removing paint from the floors etc.

So, instead of the normal romantic and relaxing painting process it was a bit more challenging, but results were great and will be the first layers of a new series of paintings in the Subconbscious Power series. Curious to see what they will look like in the end ? Me too ;)


Read here another article about this style