Shifting tides and crusted snow

Winter Afternoon  11 x 14 

Late in the afternoon—the day after a blizzard—I snapped some inspiration photos at Fox Creek in Ipswich. The creek was alive that day, with shifting tides and crusted snow shards. That was a few weeks back and several punishing snow storms ago. We've had a cold snap of many, many days that have dipped below zero degrees and although I've painted en plein air in 32° temps (see here), that's about as cold as I'll go outside with my paints. So this painting was done back in the studio! What can I say… I just see the world in colors. See the progression of the painting below.

 

Here's how this painting would look framed.