Painting the Smyrski Farm, New Milford

Woke up and saw a stunning wintery landscape. We had about 6" of fluffy snow overnight. The tree branches had snow all the way to the tippy top. Morning sky was cool blue-gray to pink on the horizon, yellow-white where the sun eluded to rising.

Marc and I spent the morning snowshoeing on one of the Weantinoge Landtrust properties. Temperature hovering around 34 degrees and no wind. One of the trails led us downhill and along a stone wall to a pond; water dark aqua-green and blues, white snow, yellow ochre grasses and something very purple-ish. Distant hills looked periwinkle gray with a mauve overtone. Dog burrs along the trail coming back. Some of the trail was muddy - mudshoeing and puddle-jumping. Our snowshoes, boots and backsides were splattered and caked with mud and snow. Nice hike. Not too strenuous. Probably should have brought lunch. And, should have charged the big camera battery. Glad to have had a back-up camera. Brought sketchbook, indelible pen, pencil . . . sketched places of interest along the trail that could be good painting sites. Still need to shorten the handles of a couple of flat brushes and bring a small w/c kit. On a sunny day it would be faster to lay on a medium wash of color over my line drawings. Hint at where the mid-tone values might be and note the time of day. Really need to bring two colors, maybe ultramarine blue and something like vienna red.

Karen and I spent the afternoon painting the black cows in the snow and the white barns at Smyrski farm in the Merryall section of town. Gave up at 5 pm when the gentle snowfall turned to misty sleet-rain. The grayness of the day brought out the colors, and the brief moment of sunshine warmed up the high areas of the ground snow. The distant hills were in and out of visibility as the snow showers came and went. Might try it again tomorrow. Didn't paint a "keeper" today. Might try again tomorrow.