Leave it Out

It has often been said that "what you leave out is more important than what you put in".  Here is a photo of the Hockley valley where we painted on Saturday.

A Gaggle of Trees

One of the gang chose this to compose.  It is bad enough.  I'll try to get a shot of the finished product to show.  There was also a barn.  However, I was somehow attracted to this.

A Whack of Bush

Remember that this is a photo.  So I could see more and see it in context.  Too busy.  What is it about?  It was a dull overcast sky.  The sky was darker than the snow covered ground.  An exception.  Sky was warmer than the ground in general.  The sky was quite active so there was interesting colour around.  Here was my thinking.

Masses and Motifs

This looks a bit washed out to me, but here goes.  There is a circle in the lower right.  That clump of trees I found attractive.  Both the vertical and the horizontal gave me interest.  Then the masses are indicated with yellow lines.  The two snow masses were of different colour and the angle gives some dynamic feel.  You could imagine putting on the snow shoes and walking up the grade to the right, circling somewhere and continuing along the rear hill.  I indicated colour gradations as parallel lines on the two snow masses.  So this leads to a simplified 4 mass composition.  The sky, the snow hills, the forest line and the tree arrangement.  Here is what I did with it.

Snow Shoe Day, 10 x 12, Oil on Board

This is just a little darker for illustration purposes.