Rain, and Cold, and... Snow?

The sun has returned after the past week's winter weather of rain, cold, and snow. When I mention local snow I usually refer to the snow that is visible on the mountains close by, seen, but not felt. This past weekend it snowed right here, on me, on my house, on my budding fruit trees and yard. It didn't stick for long, but it's proximity made it feel appropriate to be working on this pair of rainy day paintings.

These have three or four layers now with plenty more to come. There is still lots of under painting color showing through on each, which I plan to retain. I like the surprise of tiny specks of vivid gold or red poking through the more sober greys.

Raindrops 2 Underpainting work in progress

©2011 Katherine Kean

Raindrops 3 Underpainting work in progress

©2011 Katherine Kean

 I've been happily observing the days getting longer. Having more daylight to paint by has been great. Yet, it's still cold, so even though the days are longer there isn't enough sunlight to make up for the heat lost during the winter. The cold has made for slo-o-o-w drying time. Under paintings that I started last week are still tacky. Paintings, still sticky, that need final glazes continue hanging in limbo. Since I must wait for paintings to dry in order to work on, I continue to start on fresh ones. So for now, the studio is getting quite full!
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