Last snow painting of the year

8x10 oil on panel

This is from last Fridays snow storm. I liked the way the trees looked with all the wet heavy snow clinging to them.  On the way to the grocery store Saturday morning I was able to click some pictures on my phone as a quick sketch for reference. The good part was by Saturday afternoon most of it had melted. Still waiting for spring.

Another Artist in the Family

Eric O'Driscoll  Artist


My nephew Eric was in his first art show Friday night, It was great being there with him and his dad for the opening of the show. Eric's piece is a watercolor of  sneakers.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015 5:26 pm | Updated: 2:52 pm, Wed Mar 18, 2015.

By ANTHONY DIMATTIA Staff writer

BENSALEM — The opening reception for the 5th annual Multi-Generational Art Exhibition will be from 6-9 p.m. Friday at the Bensalem Senior Center, 1850 Byberry Road.

The event displays the work of artists from the senior center along with roughly three or four Bensalem Township School District students, organizers said.

Here is a picture of Eric plein air painting with us in the snow.

A Walk in the Snow

Snow Day, 6x8  oil

 A snow scene from my memory. A couple years ago I was walking through Neshaminy State Park after a snow storm and was taken by a scene similar to this.
I was in a part of the park that had a cathedral of trees with the sunlight coming thru throwing crisscross shadows and lighting up the snow making it glow.
I added people walking their dog to instill a sense of pleasure in freshly fallen snow.

Experimenting with different reference materials, winter landscape,11x14

Winter landscape  11x14  oil on wood panel



I did this plein air sketch (below) about 7 years ago late in the afternoon on the way home from work. It is very basic but captured the warm lighting that afternoon. A small patch of snow was left hidden behind a sloping bank and I wanted to capture the sun light on the snow and the shadows.
I always liked this sketch and wanted to use it or parts of it in a painting.

Seeing the snow we had recently inspired me want to try a snow scene, so I looked thru my sketchbook for ideas and came across a sketch I did last year at a local park, it was a footbridge crossing over a small brook.

I want to try combining the lighting from the plein air sketch and the composition from the pencil sketch to see what I could arrive at.