04 Feb Painting Snow: February 2, 2013
Great Demo on Painting Snow, with James Trigg on 2/2/13
James’ talk, in a nutshell: Grey sky, grey snow; Blue sky, blue snow.
“Snow is frozen water. When it is laying on the ground it’s a lot like looking at a lake reflecting whats going on in the sky. Only the ice cristals make the reflection a lot lighter. I like using a neutral background to help gage tones”( Jim uses an alizarin and white pinkmixture). On a cloudy day verrtical surfaces appear warmer. Keep the average color of the snow tinted in the medium value ranges. Only use the lightest color sparingly for highlights. Develop a feel for the build up of the painting. There might just be the tiniest bit of the lightest snow-color highlight reflecting in the snow. Jim uses the same colors when doing acrylic sketches as he uses doing oils. He does not use mediums or extenders in either oil or acrylic. ” I keep it simple- just the paint”. He also suggests using separate brushes for warm colors and cool colors, also keeping a special brush just for the snow. Keeping the brushes clean helps you to mix the very lighr pastel colors you will see when observing snow. James ended his demonstration with, ” To be good at painting snow, pay special attention to looking at reflected light.”- Thanks Jim. See more of his snow paintings at Mountain Trails Gallery, 200 Old Santa Fe Trail in Santa Fe or at www.JamesTrigg.com.
James’ Website: www.JamesTrigg.com