Merry Christmas!
Hope you are having a great day.
This is a scheduled post.
The kids will leave later this morning to go to the other parents for the day, so things are getting back to normal around here after 3 wonderful days.
We thoroughly enjoyed our precious family time together and now I'm ready to see about ending this year and beginning the new one.
I've played in my Stamping Journal again (a 7x7 Stonehenge Wired watercolor pad).
I recently re-read My Antonia, a novel by one of my favorite authors, Willa Cather.
This time, this passage stuck with me:
"The pale, cold light of the winter sunset did not beautify – it was like the light of truth itself. When the smoky clouds hung low in the west and the red sun went down behind them, leaving a pink flush on the snow roofs and the blue drifts, then the wind sprang up afresh, with a kind of bitter song, as if it said: “This is reality, whether you like it or not. All those frivolities of summer, the light and the shadow, the living mask of green that trembled over everything, they were lies, and this is what was underneath. This is the truth.” It was as if we were being punished for loving the loveliness of summer. "I wanted to try to paint a similar winter art journal scene and while I didn't adhere to Cather's vivid description, I feel like I created something that does capture a bit of her winter 'truth'.Note to file: I would love to someday try to paint some of Cather's many excellent pastoral landscapes as per her descriptions. I bet someone has already done that, so I shall have to research it because I'd love to see them.
I stamped the Northcoast Creations barn with Pinecone VF Clair.
Gave the sky a wash of 2 opaque watercolor blues, let dry.
Added some pink and purple, let dry.
Colored the barn, trees and fencing with the w/c pencils and painted with a water brush, let dry.
Squeezed out a dollup of titanium white acrylic on my palette and with a stencil brush added the white paint to the sky, dabbing and rubbing with a kleenex as I went.
Used the white gel pen and the white acrylic with a liner brush to add the snowy effects to the barn and trees.
I chose these 2 sentiment quotes to stamp, from Artistic Outpost's Midwinter stamp set.
The quote on the left is by the poet Christina Rosetti.
The quote on the right is by the philosopher Albert Camus.
(Good ole Google helped me find them.)
I thought about printing out the Cather book passage that had started all this, but since it's my stamping journal, I used the stamps I have to convey similar thoughts.
Not the same, but close.
Working with what I have and practice painting a winter sky.
I must confess, I did have the urge to stamp a Santa and his sleigh silhouette across the sky and make this a Christmas piece, but there's still a few months of winter left to weather, so I let this one just be winter.
A Big Sky Winter.
I feel for those of you who live in places with "the bleak midwinter" as Rosetti called it.
I'm thankful I see sun most days in winter and only rare-to-infrequent dustings of snow.
I bet you're glad you don't have hurricanes, so I guess it all evens out.
Thanks for the visit today.
Merry Christmas!!
XOX
CHALLENGE LINK-UPS:
Media Used:
Watercolor paper, Stamping ink, Watercolor pencils, Lyra Opaque Watercolors (Gouache), White gel pen, Titanium white acrylic paint
Explained in above post
The blues and purples in the photo inspired my sky
18 comments:
Merry Christmas 2023!!! Thanks for sharing this on Christmas Day! It's a beautiful farm country wintery scene! I've enjoyed Cather's writing too as well as Rosetti's poems, so thanks for including those within your journal entry. Thanks for sharing at FQGS! --Becca
I love your sweet painting, just beautiful, the sky is gorgeous. Thanks for linking to AJJ, much appreciated. Hugs, Valerie
I love Willa Cather. You probably know she is buried here in NH. I love this piece. It is a beautiful winter scene, and that sky came out amazing. It is perfect for Wendy's challenge at AJJ. Thanks for sharing it. I really do like how this piece came out. I keep looking at it and it has such a cozy feel. I hope you are having a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful holiday. hugs-Erika
Beautiful winter scene on your journal page!!
Thank you for joining our challenge at Double D!
Diane DD Co-Owner
{Nellies Nest}
{Double D}
A beautiful painting for your art journal. Fabulous techniques to achieve that wonderful winter sky.
Thank you for joining in with our December challenge "Anything Mixed Media Goes" at Creative Artiste Mixed Media. Festive Greetings and good luck x
Lovely and Peaceful winter scene and a perfect Christmas page for your journal. I trust you had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to the New Year. Thanks for playing along at The Inspiration Station Challenge and supporting us.
Donna xx
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A beautifully painted sky for my theme on AJJ, thank you for another great entry.
Such a lovely journal page, summing up Christmas and the snow. Imagine being in a log cabin somewhere, all warm and cosy with the loved one(s). Sounds ideal to me.
Glad you had some lovely days with family and my veryk best wishes for the coming year.
Hugs, Neet xx
What a wonderful scene, sky and words Aimes, I look forward to seeing the sky inspired by Willa Cather, I'm afraid I am ignorant of her work. The description she writes of is just beautiful. Good to hear you had a good time with your family.
Happy New Year.
x
Really lovely. The sky you created is perfect for this midwinter theme. Love the sentiments as well. Thanks for joining the Lost Coast Design Challenge!
A well turned phrase is like a beautiful painting, and this is altogether lovely. Thank you so much for sharing with us at Double D.
Lovely art journal page you have created. Stunning. Thank you for joining us at A Place to Start this month. Hope to see you back here again in 2024. Judy DT https://hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com
Super gorgeous sky you created on this image. This reminds me of my husband's grandparent's farm.
Pretty Scene. So glad you shared over at HLS watercolor, Aud Sentiments
Another wonderful creation, love how this turned out!
Thank you so much for sharing at my Crafty Wednesday challenge!
Happy New Year!!
Ellie
Ellibelle's Corner
A beautiful page, such a lovely, peaceful scenery.
Thank you for joining us at Kleuren met Potloden.
This is really lovely Aimeslee! I'm so glad you had a beautiful Christmas. Thanks so much for joining us over at As You Like It Challenge. Happy New Year!
Really beautiful creation! Love it!
Thanks for joining us at the Dream Factory Challenge!
Hugs
Conny
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