January

Last month was snowy and cold, which drove me indoors to the studio. Staying inside instead of forging into the deep freeze doesn't mean no landscapes last month, though. The ample snow and changeability were great source material just outside the studio windows. Most of the work I did last month was watercolor or watercolor and ink, but I also managed a couple of silverpoint drawings. Those I did on small gesso panels that have been taking up space in the studio. I posted one of those here a couple of weeks ago.

Watercolor is simple, quick, portable, and if not forgiving, at least easily disposed of when the results aren't optimal. So for rapid sketches and impressions watercolor is my choice. Digital is a convenient tool for drawing too, but tablets haven't been as useful in my practice, and I seldom use an iPad or other tablet for rapid sketches outdoors (they're useful indoors though). For more considered and deliberate work, one of my favorites is silverpoint. Metalpoint is a different animal entirely, required slow and considered application of the stylus with a very deliberate attitude and effort. Silverpoint is slow. Watercolor can be quick.

Hoff, "Spruce in the Snow," silverpoint on gesso panel, 4x6

The silverpoint drawing posted above was finished near the end of January on a cold, grey and slightly snowy day following a big storm. A spruce in the copse of trees across Druid Hill Creek from my studio was draped in snow and the surrounding woods had gone ghostly and pale in the slightly misty-foggy air. It was challenging (as silverpoint can often be) to achieve appropriate value separation, but in the end things often come together. This one is part of a series of silverpoints I've been making this winter. The medium is challenging but rewards diligence with improving skills. My current plan is to make this into an occasional series.

The other thing I've been doing with these silverpoints is trying out small gesso panels as substrates. So far the gesso works like a dream for drawing with metals Nonetheless, this ground accepts the metal readily and provides enough tooth and substance to allow for decent value separations. Gold is softer and may be even better on this surface, but that remains in the future.

Hoff, "Snowy Banks Downstream," watercolor on gesso panel, 4x6

Watercolor was the primary medium I used last month, for reasons already mentioned. One of the best views of the snowy outdoors is north, downstream, on the creek so I sorted out a few to post.

This first watercolor from early in the month (left) was done on the same sort of gesso panel as the silverpoint above. Normally my watercolor support is one kind of paper or another, often in small sketchbooks. But given the number of gesso panels in the studio, it occurred to me that those might serve as good substrates for water media. The surface is quite absorbent, as one would expect, and accepts watercolor readily. Because this was an experiment I used a tiny 4x6 panel that had been stained by something in the studio long ago. The subject was the snowy banks of Druid Hill Creek, downstream. As a test it served well, as a painting? Perhaps. In my eyes at least the yellow stains actually enhance the work.

Hoff, "Snow Day," watercolor on paper, 5x7

For comparison, a couple of other watercolors on paper are interesting. The first is the same downstream view I've used so often in these paintings, this time after that same heavy snowfall that left the spruce tree above so snow-draped. This composition ignored the trees along the left bank to emphasize instead the depths of the snow in the creek bed and tantalize the eye into the grey distance. The light was flat and diffuse that day.

The last of January gave us a return of sunshine and warmth. The snow began to recede, the creek thawed and flowed dark like coffee between banks of marshmallow dollops. In the 5x7 watercolor at the left, you can see lumps of snow standing in the creek and the water is open and reflective. The sun catches distant patches of grey-gold grasses and trees and promises us light and warmth and spring. Tra la.

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Metalpoint