Painting #1: Snowy Twilight Forest

This is my first painting of the new art odyssey.  Just looking at it makes me shiver, even though I painted it outside on a warm and sunny day.  Now you can see how my art takes me to other places.


Here's the photo I took of my grandmother's forest in upstate New York last winter: 

The "blue twilight" effect is a cool trick I discovered by altering the white balance on my camera. We had more snow in December 2012/January 2013 than I have seen in many years. And it was very cold, below zero.  It was also windy as the snow came down, so it frosted on to one side of all the trees.  Walking through this forest, everything was peaceful and totally like a scene out of a fairytale. I got the snow dusting on the tree trunks with a dry fan-tipped brush and very small dabs of white paint.


...And this is the dark corner of my parents' basement that I sometimes work in. For no other reason than lack of studio space.  I do what I have to do.