Riverside Trees - Luminescence - THANK YOU Denis Collette!

Riverside Trees - Luminescence - THANK YOU Denis Collette!, a photo by linfrye on Flickr.

1/8 Sheet
Arches 140#CP

Frosty, gray mornings greet me this time of the year - and early mornings smell like winter on the wind. My friends to the north already have experienced snowfall - and it is especially around the holidays, that I begin my annual 'pining' for snow.

I have to make do with the frost - and your inspirational images - right now! I owe a special thanks to my friend, Denis Collette for allowing me to paint from his image of luminescence (www.flickr.com/photos/deniscollette/5214285398/).... THANK YOU, Denis! I have been admiring this capture since LAST November - and tried and tried to paint it without any success. Finally, my muse decided to be kind, and sat on my shoulder as I rendered this interpretation of winter trees, riverside. I LOVE Denis' work- there's a fabulous sparkle and light to them that is such a challenge in watercolor. Still, I hope I was able to capture a bit of the 'magic' I see in his incredible photography!

Though rain is in the forecast, snow is the furthest thing from reality for us. Temps reached 70F yesterday, and our visit to the JC Raulston Arboretum found roses, flowering maples, camellias and more still blooming like colorful candy!

And yet,

THIS morning, the sun waits behind pink/gray clouds and the woodland trees are somber in melancholy - and I wait
for the snows
to come.