Cold Morning Drink

My husband and I were taking a mid morning drive after a typical NH snow storm. A Belgium Mare was standing in the new snow getting a drink from a small stream that ran through her pasture. The new snow took on heavy blue shadows from the sky above but the warm March sun was glinting through the evergreens promising a warmer day to come. This small work oil painting is on pre-primed gesso board using professional oils. The surface is quite smooth and the oil paints flow with a very liquid appearance on top which was appealing to me in creating the stream, wet snowy branches and mane of the mare. I used a tight stippling technique on her winter coat create the fluffy appearance as the straight hairs would do to trap warm body heat. The yellow sunlight peaks through the valley of branches in contrast to the blues of the snow indicating the change in weather.