In spring it feels like the weather can't make up its mind. Sometimes just before a storm you have to actively search to find any remnant of the snowy cover of winter.
As an artist who is always seeking to draw the abstract quality of a landscape into her work, I relish these specific conditions. Shifting light accentuates a contour. But a patch of snow is definite and only ephemeral because of a sustained heat differential. Not minute to minute, like sunlight.
Painting consistent plein air pieces year round has keyed me into the changing colors of willows. We have several varieties varying in shades from ocher to gold to alizarin. They are always the accent of a red or purple hue in Montana landscapes.
8"x10" oil on board.