Back porch
Posted: December 13, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized 31 CommentsI haven’t done any sketching from my car studio in a long time so it felt really good to get out there today, especially since we had such a good dumping of snow yesterday. I’ve always loved the little play of overlapping shapes of this church in Pointe Claire and the presbytery next to it. With the piles of snow and the many windows on the building, there was plenty of opportunity for repetition in the design. Painted on a pad of Arches CP paper, 9″ x 12″.
Shari Blaukopf's Sketchbook 
Very nice! – Snow already?!
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Yes, in Montreal snow starts as early as November! Sometimes we have a green December but not this year. There’s more on the way this week.
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Lovely sketch – so much character. And almost (but only almost) makes me wish we had some snow here.
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Thanks Tony. Maybe one day you’ll return to Montreal in the winter and sketch with me.
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If anything would make me brave a Montreal winter, that would!
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We had a few flurries the other day and I envy you your snow.(as long as the streets are drivable.) Love your snow scenes. I can feel the cold.
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Thanks so much Judy. It’s still cold here, although we had some freezing rain last night, but now the temperature is plummeting again…
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You’ve done an excellent “sketch”; all the little nuances are there and I’m (figuratively) stamping the snow off my boots. I wish i could really be there to study with you!
Holly
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Thanks Holly. I will try to do some “step-by-step” posts during my holidays. I haven’t done one of those in a very long time.
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I’ll look forward to them!
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Just lovely, and I particularly admire how your colour choices emphasize the comfort you seem to find in snow. Is this one of your limited palette works – and if so, what are the triad hues?
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Hi Lynn. Thanks so much for writing. Yes, this is a limited palette. I used Cerulean Blue, Alizarin Crimson and Hansa Yellow for this, but in the dark roof I had to use a darker blue (ultramarine) because I just couldn’t get the paint dark enough from my original triad.
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“Car studio”: what a great name for a very sacred, I am sure, art space. And the sketch is beautiful! Captures the mood and space very well.
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HI Anieta,
Thanks for writing. This is a scene I have painted many times over the years but I especially love it in winter because of that zigzag between the two buildings, and how the snow moves around in drifts in the middle.
Shari
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♥
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Thanks!
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What a wonderful little painting. So evocative!
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Many thanks Susan!
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Arches cold press is my favorite, This is a lovely sketch, just lovely. I am intimidated by snow scenes. You handle them so beautifully. We in Ohio had a major snow dump last weekend and another one is scheduled for this coming weekend. The view from the window makes me want to try to capture our white lawn and surrounding view.
Thanks for such inspiring art work.
Bernadette
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HI Bernadette, I think snow scenes are the easiest to paint because there is so much surface that you leave untouched. Also, the snow provides such a great contrast to everything else. I think you should just look out there and paint what you see. Just keep doing small snow sketches and you’ll begin to find it really easy, I am sure!
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If you can’t escape it, then why not paint it eh? Your sketch evokes the romance of winter as Gilles Vigneault did in song: “Mon pays, ce nest pas un pays, c’est l’hiver”. Warms me old Canadian heart!
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Thanks Gayle. Great lyrics, aren’t they? I say this so often, but I used to hate winter before I started painting it. Now I actually look forward to it!
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This is wonderful. I feel certain you’ve written about your grey mixes in the past but I’d be interested in being pointed to a blog.
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Hi Lee, I have talked about my grey mixes so often, but there is not one post in particular that I can think of. For the soft greys like this I often start with Cerulean Blue, then add a bit of Alizarin Crimson and some yellow, in this case Hansa Yellow Medium. That makes a nice granulating grey which is what I wanted.
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Hi Shari. First, really nice painting. Love the simplicity of the “snow” statement. No snow here in Southern Utah as yet, but I’m waiting for some to paint. I wish you the best for the holidays and hope you have a Happy New Year.
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Hi Russell, It’s always nice to hear from you. I hope you get some snow soon, I wish you the best for the holidays too. And many great paintings in 2017!
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We in the west are this year getting a good dump of the white stuff,use to live in Toronto and came to vancouver to avoid this stuff, got to admit though it is looking beautiful almost worth getting cold to paint it, to much of a chicken, looking otthe window makes me shiver, love your painting though. merry Christmas to one and all
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I hear that it’s unusually cold and snowy out west. I saw a report from Vancouver on the news the other night. I think they had even closed the schools for the day. I know that doesn’t happen too often. Happy holidays to you too!
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Your painting of snow are always so good. I love the shadows and the whites that make your eye travel all around the painting. Love it!
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Thanks so much Joan. I love painting snow!
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Nice painting
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