Since I’ll be painting a lot of snow today I go ahead and mix the colors needed. On the right side of my palette are various shades of blue and lavender for the snow. On the left are the mixes for the wisteria. I’ve made a warm green for the foliage still remaining on the vines, using Ultramarine Blue + Cadmium Yellow Medium.
The foliage is blocked in above. I’ve thrown in a few brushstrokes of Pthalo Blue + White. This adds interest and depth to the wisteria leaves. The nice thing about painting on a white canvas is the areas not covered give me an idea of how the snow will look on the foliage.
The final touch to the snow covered Wisteria is drawing the tendrils with a fine brush. When painting these I never fail to think of a childhood song. It was one of my favorites, “there was an old lady who swallowed a spider, that wiggled and jiggled and tickled inside her”. The wiggly, jiggly tendrils just tickle my imagination. Now let’s turn our attention to the chili ristra. Because the door is bright red I make the chili peppers a darker red, using a mixture of Alizarin Crimson and Cadmium Red Deep. A little White is added to the mix for the highlights on the spicy peppers.
The yucca casts long, narrow, spiky shadows across the snow drifted on the window sill. These are fun to paint. After blocking in the basic shapes of the shadows I go back with a clean brush and soften the edges.
The Geraniums in Snowy Embrace were red and very striking juxtaposed against the blue door. I’ve made these Geraniums pink to look better with the red door. They also will be a nice combination with the turquoise bench.
The bench adds a nice southwestern touch to the piece. I use a Mahl Stick to brace my hand while painting the sun face on the back of the bench. The Mahl Stick hooks over the top of my easel, the other end rests against the palette. This makes fine detail work easier to do and puts much less strain on my shoulder. If you would like to see any of these pictures enlarged just click on the image. And I must admit Jack and I are happy sports fans tonight, our Dallas Cowboys won! So GO COWBOYS. See you tomorrow. Hugs, Mikki Senkarik
