A gallery of Winter Paintings + the benefitS of creating small studies
Creating small gouache studies of the snowy landscape gave me a way to explore new ideas and capture memories of the season. I had a stack of beautiful watercolour paper, cut into small sheets, that had been kicking around the studio for a number of years. It seemed like it was time to create something with it. Here, a gallery of small winterscapes, painted in gouache over the course of the winter – plus just a few favourites from past winters.
A winter print (Blanketed Under Fresh Snow) that you can find in the shop!
Some years, I hit the ground running. This winter, I found myself taking things a little more slowly. Outside, everything seemed suspended in a diffused overcast light. The ocean was calm, the birds quiet, and the landscape cloaked in muted tones. It felt as though everything was holding its breath.
My life felt slightly suspended, too, at the start of this new year. Waiting for the cue to begin. I reminded myself to be patient. To embrace this season of rest. To take this momentary pause to read and learn, reflect on the bigger picture, and make connections.
I’ve spent the last several months sifting through notebooks and ideas, references, themes, and pictures taken on walks over the past year… Creating small studies is a way of engaging with these ideas and seeing where they might lead.
This turning inward and incubating can feel out of place in today’s fast-paced world, but maybe it’s every bit as necessary. A restorative period of rest between bursts of life. So, I’m reminding myself to allow for this natural ebb and flow. Taking deep breaths in, as well as out.
The time for energized action and joyful creative flow will begin again, soon enough. As the bulbs ready themselves for spring – so will I – for the busy summer season in this coastal community.
A beautiful wooded gravel road near where I live, in mid-morning sunlight. Gouache on watercolour paper, approx. 4” x 6”.
Studies are a perfect way to explore ideas
The relative simplicity and speed of creating studies allows you to try new techniques, push your colours, splash about with your brushwork, or go bold with an experimental composition. You can cover a lot of ground very quickly this way – iterating and developing new approaches. The key is not to get too fussy, and to not try to do too much within a single study.
Try something. Learn from it. Make another.
The old barn across the street from where I used to live in late afternoon sunlight. Gouache on watercolour paper, approx. 4” x 6”.
A red building in historic Annapolis Royal – one of my favourite Nova Scotia towns. Gouache on watercolour paper, approx. 4” x 6”.
Encountering challenges & surprises
Each of these winterscapes challenged me in a different way. This one, below, was particularly surprising. If you’ve been following my work for a while, you know that I LOVE colour, but I usually opt for a more subdued and harmonious use of colour.
The late day sunlight in this scene pushed me to use almost pure colour right out of the tube. I was astonished at how dark (and how blue!) I could go with the foreground snow while still getting that feeling of luminous snow in shadow.
A large barn next to where I used to live, with late afternoon sunlight hitting the North Mountain and treetops, in the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia. Gouache on watercolour paper, approx. 4” x 6”.
Finding flow in winter’s quiet
The darker winter months have been about slow creativity. A thoughtful, meandering, and reflective gathering of inspiration and ideas from painters and teachers, books, and magazines. It has been about finding flow in winter’s quiet, by the fire.
As I pieced together puzzles on long dark evenings, my mind was making new connections between the experiences and creative output of the past year. And, now, I find myself looking ahead to what may come next in the studio.
Below is a gallery of my small gouache studies of the winter landscape. Each original painting was created on beautifully textured watercolour paper. Look out for a few of them at Gallery on Lincoln or in my July show (LaHave Bakery Gallery, July 18-27, 2025). In the meatime, enjoy this online gallery!
A yellow house down the street from my yellow house here in Broad Cove, Nova Scotia. This old farmstead looks charming in any weather, but especially under a blanket of fresh snow. Gouache on watercolour paper, approx. 4” x 6”.
