Hate it or love it, snow has been an inspiration for artisans, and a large number of the world’s most famous works of art are snow scenes, from winter scenes of Bruegel to Monet’s La Pie or Magpie on a Gate. How these renowned artists grasped the subject, and specifically Monet and Pissarro, is a demonstration of exactly how evident the paint application are catching the light, texture and the contrast of snow creating stunning effects.
The texture is an additional aspect managed by the medium. The stunning decisive thick brush directional strokes full of white paint place down in one stroke makes its shadows and drives the shapes and viewpoint which at first can appear to be daunting to any artist. So today we share with you some details of the basics of painting white snow.
Snow is a challenging painting subject. Painting snow presents numerous difficulties, particularly to plein air painters — the minimum of which is the bone-chilling air outside.
Snow indeed isn't white. Snow is a collection of tones of hues, and they can be of a wide range. Much the same as everything we paint, the tints and shades of snow relies upon the lighting, the sky, time of day and it’s neighbouring items. Observe the planes of snow. Note down what is catching the light directly, the shadow, and which object reflects light.
You will see an assortment of qualities and hues in the snow; however, you will never observe pure white. The refractive value from snow makes it a brighter white. To accomplish this hallucination, include a drop of Cadmium Orange paint or Yellow Ochre that Bob Ross uses in his paintings. You're not attempting to make the snow orange but instead trying to get a touch of the Cad Orange's chroma to light up the white.
The essential trouble is the intense light reflected by the snow. This makes us squint down and, in doing as such, we tend to paint it all dark. This is fine when painting the lights; however, it gets extremely troublesome as we peer into the shadow regions over the snow.
Keep your shadows interesting! There are invariably long shadows in winter, and these are basic to portraying the forms of the contours under snow. Only one shadow from a tree, a figure or a pole, even a fanciful one set off the image, can be utilized to depict the emptiness of a country lane, a high bankside or a pavement edge. Search for these shadows, move one from somewhere else or discover one.
Have variations in your shadows, making your shadows more interesting and keeping the viewers interest. Light draws the viewer in and shadows keep them viewing your painting longer for hidden treasures.
On a white surface like snow, the shadows will behave like a complementary shade of the light source, which is the sun: yellow/orange or pinkish tint, relying on the time of day and region. Sometimes the colour combination used is to create a mood effect. The shadows play a vital role and notice how they keep changing colours as the day changes. In the morning you will see them in the shades of blues and purples, while by the end of the day they tend to go grey, due to the lack of light reflections. So, remember, the more intense the brighter the sunlight, the darker the shadow, the duller or muted the colour.
While painting snow, do the counter-change method, which means that objects seen against a dark light will seem light, and the same object seen against a lighter background will look darker. Also, consider the qualities of the sky. They play a huge role in deciding the pigments and strokes of your brush.
Here’s a checklist to consider when you decide on the colour palette of painting a perfect snow white:
1. The time of the day
2. The season
3. The high or low light of the sun in the sky
4. A clear sky or cloudy
5. Fog or mist in the atmosphere creating a haze
6. Shadow hues are more muted or less intense colour
Keep your White clean, while working with this colour, it is vital to ensure that you do not contaminate it by mixing unnecessary colours in it. With these basic rules of painting the snow, we are sure that your painting is going to stand out!
Snow White’s dress was not a pure white colour, otherwise the dress would not have form or movement. Remember to look for reflective and refractive light in your highlight and shadow areas to make your painting sing.
We as a whole see things differently, and it's how we understand them that defines the outcome. We hope that this blog has helped you with some tips that you can take care before you take on this challenge.
