Day After the Blizzard

6"X6" oil on gessoed masonite artboard

"Instructions for living a life:

Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it"
- Mary Oliver

I had to smile when a friend sent me this quote yesterday. Yes, it is truly good advice. Now of course the curmudgeons are going to want to temper this saying with "use good judgement so you don't become astonished over the ordinary". But so many people fail to see the beauty in the ordinary...they simply overlook it.

This view is of course the same as yesterday. But today the sun was out- YAY! But the temperature never did rise above 25 degrees - which gave me the good fortune to paint this same scene in the late afternoon light. This is what I see looking out of the front of my house. The sun comes from behind my house & is low in the horizon. The brilliant light just hits a band across the mid-trunk level of the trees, illuminating & warming some of the trunks against the deep purpley grays of the mass of trees. Some of the lower brush still has some of the reddish brown leaves clinging to them, warming up the winter landscape somewhat. The expanse of snow covering the ground at this time of day is already in shade, making it appear a cooler white. Now it's 30 minutes later that I'm writing this (about 4:30pm) & the sun is already gone. The light outside is very blue/gray. I am indeed looking forward to spring, but it's a mighty long wait!

Other good news...I've made some updates to my website today! If it's been a while since you've had a look, please have a visit, www.roxannesteed.com - thanks!