Winter and Painting

A painter colleague of mine recently mentioned that because of various difficulties painting had become almost impossible. The holidays and festivities of autumn and early winter occupy time and expend energy normally spent in the studio. Dark and short days limit natural light for those who paint in that environment. The sun is awol for days. Studio time declines and decays. Factor in seasonal affective disorder and art inevitably suffers.

What to do?  If the discomfort of winter can be overcome--warmth in the studio, etc.--then for me the answer is simply to keep moving forward. My studio is colder in winter, but at least I'm able to continue working. The light is less, so I draw during the dark part of morning and pick up brushes when the light arrives. Luckily seasonal affective disorder doesn't seem to be a problem. Setting goals and keeping to a schedule seems to help.

"Winter Sunrise," oil on panel, 2018

Winter provides a lot of interesting opportunities for painting. In particular the light of winter--low and raking--provides for interesting contrasts of value and chroma. This is a small winter sketch of sunrise as envisioned behind the studio. "Winter Sunrise" is an invented scene that was intended to capture the joy of returning light. Based on the view out my studio window, the rising sun spills bright warmth on the treeline uphill, the shaft of sunlight cutting across a snowy hill to glance off windows and branches.

"Winter Bottles," oil on panel, 2018

Still life can provide opportunities for productive winter work too, and avoids the chilly outdoors. Small still life paintings are commonly part of my daily practice, especially so during the cold months. These "windowsill works" are small (usually less than 8x10) and therefore completed quickly. Many times these works involve only a single object in the slanting winter light, but sometimes a more cluttered setup is interesting. The painting to the right is 8x10 and quite cluttered. The morning light was bouncing around and through several bottles on my studio table, which caught my eye. The light seemed to make the small central bottle glow--a cheerful counterpoint to the grayness being banished in the window.

Feeling gloomy and unproductive is a hazard of winter, seems to me, and a multi-headed hazard at that. My own remedies these days include a regular schedule of intentional output--digital and graphite drawings and a few small painting at least every week, even if bigger or more complex works aren't coming easily.

"Mourning," casein on panel, 2017

Another personal stratagem is to work on craft, on the techniques of making drawings and paintings. For me, investigation of the media and methods of art is endlessly engaging. Also, exploring a new medium or changing methods with a familiar one can provide a spark that keeps the gloom from the corners of my mind.

During the past couple of years casein paint has occupied a portion of my time. Casein interested me mostly because of its relative obscurity. It turns out to be a very pleasant and plastic painting medium. Casein is opaque and quick-drying, which facilitates rapid sketching. So quicker casein paintings have also provided the kind of concentrated effort that chases away the gloom. This particular painting is 12x16, casein on panel, completed about a year ago. Monochromatic and gloomy, it shows the same fallen tree behind my studio that you see in the foreground of the small oil above. Casein allows sharper detail and interesting brushwork opportunities. Although the darks in this painting are satisfactory, achieving true darks is tough with casein because it dries matte. Nonetheless, the medium has real possibilities. And it helps keep away the winter gloom.

Take heart my friends. The winter is abating and the sun will inevitably return.