Friday, November 15, 2019

Painting Snow Scenes in Gouache

The new December/January issue of International Artist Magazine has an article that I wrote on painting snow scenes outdoors. I painted most of these small pictures on days when it was above 50 degrees Fahrenheit and there was no danger of the paint freezing. 

I haven’t had much luck using water media when the temperature goes below freezing. I have tried using vodka or whisky in place of the water, and I've tried putting hand warmers under the palette, but those methods haven’t worked for me. Once the paint freezes in a brush, it's game over.

But in the Hudson Valley of New York State, there are many days in the winter when there’s snow on the ground, but the temperature is above freezing. If I want to paint when it’s colder, I sketch from inside a car—or switch to oil paint.
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International Artist magazine
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7 comments:

  1. CerverGirlNovember 15, 2019 at 11:58 PM

    And there’s your video of that completely awesome steering wheel adapter you made...I love that!!!

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  2. nmsgwatercolorsNovember 16, 2019 at 6:55 AM

    Do you have trouble with tinted window in your vehical? I paint from the car sometimes, but worry about the colours when I do because I see a pretty big difference between photos taken through a car window and those taken when I role the window down.

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  3. James GurneyNovember 16, 2019 at 8:13 AM

    NMSG, Every sheet of glass imparts some tint to the view. What's important is that the light on your painting inside the vehicle is bright enough (but not too bright) and of the same character as the light outside. The view out a normal car window in daytime usually doesn't present much of a problem, but night painting is another issue entirely.

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  4. Dr Alun ap RhisiartNovember 19, 2019 at 8:46 AM

    I was amazed when I went on board The Discovery that Edward Wilson painted with watercolours in Antarctica. I assumed he would be using oils. There was a small space below decks that he used as his studio to draw the skins the collected, but many of his paintings look like they were done en plein air.

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  5. James GurneyNovember 19, 2019 at 9:39 AM

    Thanks, Dr Alun ap Rhisiart for that insight about Edward Wilson's use of watercolors. I'll look into that more.

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  6. nmsgwatercolorsNovember 21, 2019 at 8:24 PM

    Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my question. So does that mean that if I were to paint with my sunglasses on, as long as I look both at the scene and at my painting through the lenses, my painting will come out matching reality when I take the glasses off (providing I am simply trying to paint the colours in front of me)?

    ReplyDelete
  7. websitedevelopmentcompanyNovember 24, 2019 at 11:02 AM

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