Culvert St 11

Feb 26, .10

We're in the middle of a large storm.  I think it's been worse on other places than it has been in Torrington.  When I started this painting, about an hour ago, the sky was bare but now snow if falling.  I don't know if I'll be able to portray it in the painting but it sure makes a pretty pattern with the house and tree.  I had a good time putting in the branches of the tree.  I lettered them in with a brush, as if calligraphy.  Then I went over those marks with frisket using the chisel end of my Walnut Drawing Stick.  What appealed to me was the dull red of the buds on the tree, the dull yellow of the house and the pattern of the branches.  I'll have to use a fine point dip pen to get those in.  Well, it's going to be a long afternoon of watching the snow fall, so maybe....

I started the sky with the palest tint of YO, used YO and GGB for the house.  Then I added more frisket with the drawing stick on the places on the roof where the old snow hasn't melted.   I'll be glazing in more color as the afternoon wears on.

Saturday Feb 27, '10
Today is the steady sound of snowblowers, clearing sidewalks and driveways.  It's a leisurely sound; the storm is as good as abated, with little or no damage left behind in my vicinity in NW CT.

Because of the nature of the storm; steady snow that turns to slush, temp over 32 degrees, etc, I have the feeling in my heart that spring may be closer than we thought even a few days ago.   The buds on the snow covered limbs of the tree outside my window (hereinafater known as my Window Tree, which alludes to a Robert Frost poem I love...) aren't closed tight and haven't been throughout the entire storm.  They opened to any available light there was and all together, added cheerful dots and small clusters of red that added a pale rosy tone to the low color of the day.

I thought to attempt putting in the buds with a fine nib pen, and thought to use white paint to add in more snow, but couldn't easily find the pen and nib I wanted, can't find the white paint.  Albert?  I bet he knows where the white paint may be....  I did a few branches with a small chisel pointed nib but wasn't happy with that, so stopped and looked at the painting again.  I decided it delivered the message quite sufficiently and that it was a far better thing to move on than to overwork the painting. Culver St 022610 is finis.  

Yesterday was Albert's 11month birthday.  My little kitten is growing up....