I love winter so much I decided to do a show featuring the season, with snow and without.
Here is a series of small sketches, none larger than 12" x 12", inspired by winter in pastel, watercolor, pencil and pen and ink from the trails to the backyard, completed en plein air and indoors—often standing on my deck or sitting in the front seat of the car—illuminated by the stark light of winter. Many of them show various textured surfaces and a variety of lines and styles; these small sketches were just as much experiments with materials and styles as they were attempts to capture the essence of a winter scene.
The headings will tell you how I categorized them. Enjoy the footnotes about my inspirations and the sites where the scenes are.
This show was hosted by United Cerebral Palsy's Centre Avenue Gallery in February, 2004.
Some of the originals are still available, priced as noted, and I have made prints or notecards can be made from all the images.
TO PURCHASE PRINTS
Scroll to the bottom of the page for information.
Click on any image to see an enlarged version.
color
Whoever said that winter
was just brown and gray wasn’t seeing the same world I do.
Whether I’m walking the trails, driving down a back road
or just looking out the window, the colors of winter are a constant
inspiration. Snow reflects any color depending on the angle of
view and time of day, and even without snow the landscape is
rich with the colors of jewels. Even interiors are different
as the leafless trees admit more light and the sun, at its lower
winter angle, fills rooms with clear, stark light. |
Panhandle Outbound
pastel, 6" x 6", sold
Panhandle Trail, Collier
Township
foot of snow, 10 degrees, January, all alone on the trail
|
 Panhandle Inbound
pastel, 6" x 6", sold
Panhandle Trail, Collier
Township
same day, on the way home |
 Winter Colors
pastel, 7"
x 5", $50.00
Chartiers Creek, Carnegie-Rosslyn
Farms in late November, not quite winter but feeling so, yet the honeysuckle berries are bright in the sun and all the rushes, grasses and brambles bear a soft warmth.
|
Ducks
pastel, 6"
x 6", sold
Chartiers Creek, Carnegie
|
local trails
Along with Panhandle, above, wandering the woods across the hills, tracking along streams, and following railroad tracks through the valleys are some of my favorite afternoon walks.
|
Bell's Run
pastel, 6"
x 6", sold
Carnegie-Crafton
snow and shadows and trees and reflections
|
Walking the Tracks
pastel, 6"
x 6", sold
Carnegie
|
Scott's Run Road
pastel, 10"
x 8", $50.00
Collier Township
 
|
old farms
I was once quite surrounded by working farms and retired farms with interesting rustic buildings and houses, hillside pastures of waving grasses, old apple orchards and simply quiet open space; now these have been turned to neighborhoods. I managed to capture a few before they disappeared.
|
Solstice
pastel, 6"
x 6", sold
Ewing Road, Collier Township, the last few trees on an old Christmas tree farm, now gone with houses built on the land
The moment when the sun stands still,
as it seemed to at this frigid, snow-covered
winter dusk,
spruces standing dignified sentinel
to the moment
of transition.
(This is another of those beautiful places
that isn’t there anymore.)
|
 Frost
pastel, 8"
x 8", $200.00
Settler's Cabin Park, Robinson
Township, the site of one of the original farmhouses, and the overgrown field with the tracks still clear in the grass
|
After the Snow Squall
pastel, 10"
x 8", $75.00
Ewing Road, Collier Township, a cool old barn at the edge of an old Christmas tree farm
 
|
 Evening Farm
pastel, 10"
x 8", $50.00
Ewing Road, Collier Township, the lovely open hillside that once was a pasture
 
|
avian visitors
I feed the birds in several feeders around my back yard, photographing them as they flutter and fly around and occasionally with the opportunity to sketch though it's difficult with all that movement.
|
Birds in Snow
pastel, 7"
x 10", sold
my front yard; watching the birds at the feeders is like watching waves on the beach
|
Jammin Jay Blues
pastel, 6"
x 6", sold
my back yard, the blue jays making noise in the mulberry
|
 Snowbird
pastel, 6"
x 6", sold
my back yard, a little junco in a snowstorm
|
Accent
pastel, 6"
x 13", sold
my back yard, a cardinal bright in the snowy branches
|
local parks
Even the small local parks offer interesting vistas.
|
Backroad
pastel, 5"
x 7", sold
Settler's Cabin Park, Robinson
Township
|
 Remnants
pastel, 5"
x 7", sold
Settler's Cabin Park, Robinson
Township
Remnants of an old farm
|
 The First Shadows of Evening
watercolor, 7"
x 5", sold
Carnegie Park
|
Hills at Dusk
pastel, 13" x 6", sold
|
Stream in the Snow
pastel, 5"
x 6", sold
|
 A Walk in Frick Park
pastel, 6"
x 8", NFS
|
|
You just never know where
you'll find art.
|
interiors
The stark angled sunlight of winter fills our rooms as well.
|
Rehearsal Hall
pastel, 6"
x 6", sold
Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall, now called the Reception Hall
|
Winter Window
pastel, 8"
x 8", sold
Kelly at my side window, my little cat in the stark pastel light of a winter afternoon looking out at the big winter outdoors
|
Afternoon Nap
pastel, 6"
x 6", NFS, prints available
Stanley on my bed
An old cat, a gentleman,
he has found a quiet spot, upstairs in the afternoon,
and has so perfectly placed himself a little off-center
on the expanse of white bedspread,
illuminated by stark winter light
through the window.
(Stanley finds all the best places.)
|
structures
Snow falls on everything in winter, and the bare trees reveal scenes we've not seen.
|
On the Edge
pastel, 6" x 6",
$50.00
Carnegie hillside
 
|
Snow
in the Alley
pastel, 5" x 7",
sold
Barrett Way, Carnegie
|
Snow
Shower
pastel, 5" x 7",
sold
Third and Third, Carnegie
|
The Shortest Day
pastel, 6" x 6",
sold
house up the street, a scene I see from my desk every day
|
Night Window
pastel, 5" x 7",
$35.00
house across the way, a scene I see from my kitchen window
|
in the backyard
Paintings of little scenes in the snow.
|
The Fallen Branch
watercolor, 5"
x 7", $50.00
back yard
certain shades of blue watercolor are impossible to scan
|
Colorful Shadows
watercolor, 6"
x 4", $50.00
back yard
 
|
Gentle Shadows
watercolor, 6"
x 8", $50.00
back yard
|
Set Pricing on the Three Paintings Above
They aren't framed alike but are alike enough in content and style that they make a nice grouping.
The Fallen Branch, Colorful Shadows and Gentle Shadows, three for $100.00.
|
Morning Snow 2
pastel, 8" x 8",
$300.00
back yard next door
 
|
Morning Snow 1
pastel, 8" x 8",
$300.00
next door, other side
 
|
Set Pricing on the Two Paintings Above
Morning Snow 1 and 2 are available as
a set for $500.00.
|
Winter Cherry Tree
pastel, 8" x 10",
$75.00
outside my studio window
 
|
Tracks
pastel, 8" x 8",
$75.00
outside my front window
 
|
Standing Trees
pastel, 6" x 6",
$50.00
my neighbor's back yard from my deck
 
|
pencil, ink and charcoal
All are from my little sketchbook, all done en plein air from the woods to my chair at my desk, looking out the window.
|
Light Woods
pen and ink,
7" x 5", sold
Settler's Cabin Park,
Robinson Township
|
Tree
Study
pencil, 5" x 7",
sold
outside my studio window, same cherry tree
|
The
Sentinel
charcoal, 5" x
7", sold
tree at Andrew Carnegie
Free Library & Music Hall
|
The
Path of the Elves
charcoal, 5" x
7", sold
tree at Andrew Carnegie
Free Library & Music Hall
(Treebeard the Ent)
|
Creek Study in Snow
charcoal, 7" x
5", sold
my private beach, Carnegie
|
The Wrought Iron Fence
pen and ink, 5"
x 7", sold
Andrew Carnegie Free
Library & Music Hall
|
To Purchase Prints
All digital prints are the full size of the original (the rough edges you see on some of them are cropped off; the size listed reflects the cropped image). They are centered in an 8.5" x 11" sheet of matte finish archival digital card stock (except "Accent" which is printed on 8.5" x 14"). All prints are signed on the print.
Prints are $15.00 each. For now, I have one button to purchase prints. Simply enter the name of the one you'd like to purchase.
|
