Snow Covered Dogwood By Stefan Baumann
Winter Wonderland
It feels luxurious to be nestled in our cozy ranch house. We’re enjoying a cup of rich black mocha java while sitting next to our fireplace glowing with warm orange and red flames. The latest winter storm has arrived at our mountain home.
Snow Covered Dogwood
By Stefan Baumann
Original plein air painting on panel 8×12
The wind is howling through the trees like a locomotive as it steams into the train station. Gusts of wind are blowing the snow-laden branches of the oak and dogwood trees at 50 miles per hour, freeing them of the heavy snow that entombs them. Snow drops off these branches and falls to the ground, adding to the 6 feet of snow that has already fallen over the past 3 days at the Grand View Ranch.
More of this fantastic and needed gift from nature is sure to come. Power lines burdened with heavy ice and snow lie along the road; several of the poles snapped in two from the weight of the snow, and the electricity has been off for days. We spend our nights reading by candlelight and waiting for the snow to stop so we can plow our way out. The search and rescue helicopters hover over our hill searching for homeowners in trouble.
I feel frustrated when we are snowbound and unable to get out of the house. However, I am a lover of landscapes and painter of nature, and I am present to the opportunities of the moment. The assets of this wonderful spectacle inspire me, so I take the opportunity to paint the snow-covered dogwood tree from my studio window.
Secrets of Painting Snow
Painting winter snow can be tricky because an artist has so many values of white to work with. The key is not to think about the color of the snow. Instead, think about the temperature of the color (warm or cool) and the values in the snowy landscape (from light to dark).
Temperature and value are always important when painting. Snow scenes have whites with cool colors added, like blue green and violet, that contrast with whites with warm colors added, such as yellow-orange and red. When painting the highlights or brightest areas of snow, always add a little orange to your lightest value. This will give the viewer the feeling of sunlight.
The shadow colors of snow are always darker and cooler than you think, especially when contrasted with lighter highlights. I always mix a neutral grey using blue, red, and yellow. This mixture added to white will make many different values to paint the shadows. It is important when painting snow to use a lot of paint to sculpt and create texture in both the highlights and shadows. Paint as if you are a millionaire; if you do, you may become one.
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Plein air and Alla Prima artist Stefan Baumann is the host of the PBS painting series, “The Grand View, America’s National Park through the Eyes of an Artist”. He is also author of “Observations Of Nature” and “Everything you need to know about Plein Air Painting”. Moreover, Baumann travels in his vintage travel trailer painting America’s western landscape.
Baumann recreates in oil on canvas stunning vistas of wildlife, western landscapes of forests, mountains and desert scenes, portraits and still life, thrilling art collectors throughout the world. He has a large following with many collectors acquiring his paintings as investments internationally.
Stefan Baumann’s painting style is called Romantic Realism with Luminism, as he paints the American Landscape highlighting the effect of light. Baumann can be seen painting in Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Grand Canyon in his how to paint DVDs, filmed on location in the National Parks. These DVDs about Plein Air Painting are the very best on the market.