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Monday, February 11, 2013

Artist Tip- Color Observations of Snow




Cruising through posts on the Pastel Society of America Facebook Page I ran across this wonderful idea from Pastelist, Liz Haywood-Sullivan. She suggested when snow bound to make a SNOW LOG. 


"On white drawing paper, or your sketchbook, do color observations of snow in light and in shadow at different times of day. Do morning, mid-day and late afternoon before sunset. Do one row of color samples matching the color of sunlit snow, then a second row of color swatches of snow in shadow. Make notations of time of year and location which gives you an idea of the angle of the sun."



I thought what a wonderful idea! So many times we have to paint from photographs and know the colors are wrong! With this little trick finding the correct color should be much easier.  I don't know about where you live, but as I write this post on a Saturday afternoon the snow has begun to fall in Cheyenne.  After the storm I am hoping for a little sunshine to record the snow lights and  shadows.  I'm thinking this should be a big help next July painting that special snow scene for Christmas!

Happy Painting,
Gail Watford 
Cheyenne Artist Guild Blog Editor

1 comment:

  1. I will try this tomorrow! What a fun little study and will help me see the true colors.

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