I usually do not paint winter scenes since I really do hate the cold weather. However, since it was 20 degrees as a high today, I figured, why fight it. Painting in and of itself is a challenging endeavor, but painting a winter scene in watercolors has its own separate challenges. Convincing snow is the main issue. Since most watercolor purists use only the white of the paper for snow, it requires some really good planning. The shadows will create the illusion of snow in that instance. For me, I use a little bit different of a technique. First of is the wet into wet sky with dark mayan blue. This is a very deep blue that has a slight resemblance to paynes gray, but obviously much more blue in it. To me, this looks a lot like winter blues you see in landscapes. For some reason, when I paint this color onto the paper, I need to get a sweater, it just gets colder in the studio. That is an atmospheric part of the equation. Show the viewer a sense of cold. The last part is easy, I use white gouache. Yes, that sounds like cheating, but I don't care. It gives me the look and feel I want. I have tried using the white of the paper and for some things I keep it that way, but for winter scenes, I much prefer the white paint. I just feel it gives a much more realistic feel to being snowy. The fact of the matter is, you are the artist. Use whatever tools at your disposal you need to convey whatever it is you want.
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