Snowy Saturday

The Saturday sketchers went to Waterworks Park last weekend. The day was grey and the light was very flat. And of course this time of year the colors of nature are muted. Besides that, several inches of snow persist except in high traffic spots or where it's been removed. Waterworks Park is less busy now, but warmer temperatures have brought out pedestrians and cyclist. The ponds are still frozen and surrounded by snow but the river is open, running dark as chocolate. 

"Waterworks Pump House, Snow," wc/ink on paper,

I parked along the park road and sketched a brick building--a pump house I think--that sits on a curve by the river. It's red bricks and ochre doorway are always interesting, and it faces southeast so it gets good light, even on overcast days. As in nearly all of these sorts of sketches I began with a light graphite sketch, trying to understand the big shapes and masses. Then I painted the scene, trying to capture the muted trees in the distance, a tree or two in the middle ground and the pump house as the foreground main subject. Matching color and value until I was satisfied, I gave it a bit of time to dry then added accents and some fine branches on the middle ground trees. 

That small work above (about 5x10) took a bit over an hour, so I dug out a bigger sketchbook and gave the subject another look. The new sketchbook is about 8x11. This time the pump house is in the middle ground but is still the main subject. In this case I washed in masses of colors to suggest distant trees, just as in the smaller sketch. But here the building and tree are middle ground and the road curves left in front of a big snowbank. Transparent washes of warms and cools help establish the snow.

"Waterworks, Snow," wc/ink on paper, 7x11