Ice Dreams

Before going to Florida for the holidays to visit family, I started this pastel.  We were getting ice and cold, but nothing like is depicted in this pastel.  The photo came from a friend who does get this kind of ice and snow in Syracuse, NY.  The original photo has a large tree branch filled with snow in the leff hand corner.  In order to show the shadows I wanted to show, I eliminated that tree and the branches.  It is a beautiful photo, but I think, as a painting, I needed to put that large block of shadow in, falling off the page.  I hope it shows the movement I felt in those tree shadows.

pastel 11x14 on board

Frozen River

18x12 

Before I got sick, we went on a cross country day trip near Horseshoe Lake in Newcomb. It was a gorgeous day and we skied to this wonderful place, where the trees were encrusted in ice. I asked a fellow skier to take the picture for me, as I didn't have my camera. She was nice enough to email me the photo and I've done this pastel. It's 18x12