Winter Wonderland

I had the pleasure of working with Karen today at Tribeca Coffee House in Watertown!   Her friend gave her the gift of a painting session since it has been something she has wanted to dabble in, but just hasn't yet.   I hope that after our painting date, she will feel motivated to pick up those brushes on her own!  After our session, it is apparent to me that she could create some beautiful works herself!

Karen and I met once prior to painting so I could get a sense of what she would like to do.   She mentioned nature, trees, and cardinals.  Based on those ideas, I found a beautiful photo image to inspire our paintings!  She was in, so we were off!

I told Karen that for her painting, I wanted her to be able to claim the whole thing!  No sketching from me!  So I painted my own image and showed her tips as we went....and she painted her image without me on her canvas!  I loved that!

Here she is beginning the misty background....

Then we added in the snow hill and trees...

Now she capped her trees with snow...

Then the birch trees.  Being close up to the painting, she was unsure at some points, so I took photos to show her how amazing it was.  Glad I did!

 I painted an example as we went along to show tips and techniques.....

My example

Adding shadowing in the snow...

For the cardinal we found a photo image and used it to help create the right shapes and colors with a small detailing brush.   The cardinal was all her!   Just awesome!

I love this picture Karen!  However my flash didn't capture some details of the painting!

But here it did!  Just beautiful!  I hope you love it as much as I do!  

For your first painting, I'm very impressed!  Thanks for a great session!