Night Solitude

It was the first day of snow today; at least the first to accumulate on the ground. That provided some inspiration for my painting. I had a random solid black canvas panel that had went unused for a long time. I was aiming for a painting that was going to be a night scene with deep blues fading into nothing. So the black solid background would work. First, I masked off the light post. There was no underpainting; just cutting away the tape from the bare black panel and removing the excess tape. I prepped the canvas with clear glaze. I then painted in layers of blue starting with darker hues and making the value lighter as I worked closer to the light. I blended it all with a scenery brush. I used a fan brush to “spring” some snow into the air. I used cerulean blue and white for the snowflakes further away from the light. The snow closer to the light was straight white. The ground was then painted using various layers of blue, brushed on with the scenery brush using smooth horizontal strokes. I kept the snow closer to actual white under the light. I wanted the painting to really have a sense of a dark winter night, so I used the crisp whites sparingly. These colors worked well for my vision. I then removed the masking tape to reveal the matte black light post. I did not add any clear glaze to the pole. I wanted it to have less gloss than what oil paint usually shows. I did add some grayish tones to the one side of the pole to give a bit of definition. But I mainly left the pole alone. At that point I thought about leaving the painting and calling it done. I was going for a minimalist scene as it was. But I decided to add the wreath and ribbon to the pole. I’m glad I did, as I’m happy with the results. It gave a bit of extra color to a scene rich in blues. This is an 11x14 panel. I put it on a mini-display easel and it looks great. I’ll frame it if I find a nice frame that compliments the painting.