New Techniques: Winter Foliage

This week I have been really missing winter. Snowy, icy, blowy, miserable Saskatchewan winter. I never thought I would say it, yet here we are. At first it just seemed as if something was “off” and I was wondering why I was feeling this way. After talking to some friends and family back home I realized that my brain is unconsciously wondering where the season change is. Where’s the snow?!

I spend a ton of time outside in Sask in the winter, mainly cross-country skiing. Northern Sask has some exceptional trails. I really didn’t think I would be missing them as much as I am.

So I decided to channel these feelings into some painting this week and focused on some winter foliage. It fits with the landscape/botanical history of the medium and is something I have not attempted yet. This time, instead of searching up a YouTube video, or picking up one of the library books I signed out, I called up my artist friend. She was happy to oblige and we tried an awkward Zoom painting session that was actually kind of fun and successful. I kept thinking, “I might have to do this with a class someday, so I had better know what it is like!”

We arranged a time and began by catching up. Then she turned her camera to be aimed at her easel and I pointed mine at my desktop (while also recording with another device so I could post the time-lapse). Talk about multi-tasking! Once we got situated, it was not that different to follow her vs. a YouTube video, and it was really pleasant to chat while painting.

She walked me through five different types of foliage and then had me re-create them on my own while layering them on top of each other. The advantage to it being a live lesson – I could ask her to slow down, show me again, and clarify what she meant with different terminology as we went instead of stopping, rewinding, and just getting the same message repeated like in a recorded video.

She knew I was trying to learn different elements of art and so focused on playing with different values of paint (dark to light) which represent things closer and further away in the finished painting. She also showed me how to create these different values right on the page – starting with the darkest and pulling from it for the lighter parts with only water on my brush. Opposite to what the videos were telling me, which was to start light and add layers.

All-in-all it was a fantastic experience. the one-on-one video worked well once we settled into it and was a pretty great substitute for in-person learning (since she lives in the B.C. interior). I could see how trying that with a whole class of students would come with more challenges, and nothing online can replace in-person learning for art (in my opinion), but in a pinch it could be better than no lesson at all.

Here is the video of my winter foliage, my favourite piece so far.