Sunday, January 17, 2016

CRYSTALLINE HOAR FROST


                                 Hoar Frost in the Morning   Pastel | 6x12

One morning in November, while on a road trip though Oregon, we awoke again to a deep fog. As we drove along, in spots the sun would come out and we saw that the world was covered with a coat of hoar frost.  Science burger.com defines it as "Throughout late fall, winter or even early spring, just one or more days in a row of freezing fog provides an ideal scenario. The greater moisture in the air causes interlocking crystal patterns of frost to gain intricacy and size. In turn, they build up a greater depth on tree limbs, signs, fences or anything you could think of. That’s the essence of hoarfrost."  It's almost as though the land is covered in millions of downey white feathers. When the sun hits the crystals a shimmering radiance ensues, as if there were a very slight tremor to the surfaces. Jaw dropping wonder soon turned to rabid photo snapping! 

Painting Notes:  My substrate again was Wallis Warm Belgian Mist. I almost chose the Art Spectrum but with the small size of this painting and the amount of detail of the buildings I wanted to show, the Aubergine Art Spectrum would have been too nubby. Besides, heading into the turquoisey tones was more appealing than the gray purples. No underpainting, just a straight application of pastel. I let more and more of the paper color show through as I came forward and am pleased with the interplay between that warm medium brown and the teal colors.

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