Our First Snowfall

We’ve had our first snowfall of the season here. It came on Monday, October 26. I point this out because I’ve heard weather lore that says the date of the first snowfall reveals how many times it will snow during the winter. I hope that’s not true! I don’t much like the idea of having 26 snowfalls this year, although I do believe the Farmer’s Almanac predictions for our area are calling for a bad winter.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I don’t like winter. Oh, I don’t mind looking at it from the inside out, it’s just the getting out in it part that I don’t like. I don’t like to worry about my husband driving 40-plus miles to work or home again on bad roads, and I certainly don’t like the bitterly cold temperatures we so often have.

Of course, winter can be beautiful. Many famous artists — Monet, Renoir, Manet, Gaugin, and others — painted lovely scenes of snow and ice.

And many not-so-famous artists — like me — have also painted snowscapes. Here’s one I recently completed.

While I was pleased with the snow, I wasn’t happy with the frozen river. I never quite got the colors I wanted, despite a bit of tweaking. All in all, though, I was fairly satisfied with the painting. It’s a small one, done on a 8″ x 10″ canvas panel.

Today, thankfully, the sun is shining and the snow has melted away… for now. We’ve had a bit of rain today, and next week the temperatures will be climbing back into the mid-60’s Fahrenheit, so maybe I’ll be able to get out to the hiking trails one last time before truly cold weather settles in around us.

At least, as a landscape painter, I can change the scenery on my easel! I have a summery sunrise there now, and I’ll probably dabble with a few autumn colors before winter closes in. It’s nice to live in a place where I can experience all four seasons. It’s nice, too, that no matter what season it is, I can paint any season I want, any time I want.

What’s your favorite season?