snowshoeing
oil on canvas
i walked a lot this winter. normally i x-country ski in the winters or even run. but this winter was only walking with snowshoes. just me and my 2 big dogs napoleon and shasta. every day, day after day. same path. through the woods, across the fields, through the woods again and back on the new uninhabited road through the woods again and back home. it only takes 30 minutes on the short trail and 1 hour on the long one. my dogs love it and so do i. walking the same path over and over again day after day is refreshing and reassuring. reassuring because i see the same views, same terrain, same trees. refreshing because, inexorably there is always something new to see. animal tracks, fallen trees, a new snowdrift. and then there is the light. the light changes everything. sometimes the snow is blue sometimes lemon yellow. the trees can be greyish red and sometimes silver. the sky is never the same.
this winter i decided to paint views from the snowshoe trail. i chose to paint small oil sketches to keep things simple. i gave myself a few guidelines. small canvas (under 16 inches) and painted in only one sitting. the longest i worked was 3 hours and the shortest was 1 hour. the guidelines helped me to stay focused on the work and to keep it fresh, spontaneous, to not be overly concerned with details and proportions. i hadn't worked in this manner for a few years and initially found it frustrating but challenging. the first few paintings were mucky messes, mostly greyish overworked colors. but slowly things started to come together. i recognized that the first strokes of color were often the best and most alive. when i tried to alter my first impulse i often killed the painting, took away its vitality. spontaneity was being elicited in me and i just went with it. painting these paintings made me feel alive like an animal feels alive. heightened awareness, sharp instinct, quick, get in get out, no second guessing, no worries, no fears, no shoulda, coulda, woulda, just BANG, straight from the hip. that's it that's all.
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