Winter Harbor
How to make Snow in Pastels? Well.. living in Maine in the winter teaches this! Everyday it snows or there is snow on the ground is a lesson in white… the full range of white like Gandolf’s cloak. Here on the Schoodic Peninsula we have our own weather system.. I must ask the local fisherman if we have our own vocabulary for all the kinds of snow, sleetly, poofy flaked, dry pelting ,wet slushy and wet packing snows.
In pastels I have two large trays of whites- I have them sorted by warm and cool colors. I pick from these trays the whites that are right for the scene I am observing and for the feeling I want to create. This is our dusk the sky is a deep purple blue but down by the horizon are pinks and warm yellows – NOT COOL yellows I have to be very careful not to mix these two.
Snow is essentially a rounded geometric form so once i have identified from which direction the sun is coming I form the snow accordingly. The sun’s light was warm so began with warmth then as the mound moves into shadow it is cool then there is reflected warm light thend darker shadow. Then of course there is the snow in deep shadow which I build up with middle values blue greys. The last step is I find the pattern of light I want dancing through the trees and go in with my lightest warm white and layer it on. In life, this makes the whole piece pop and gives the patterns conhesiveness.