"Paint what you know" is a refrain often heard from successful artists. Well, when I painted this painting in 2003, all I knew was that I had a serious longing to capture on canvas the heady "take-your-breath away" feeling I remembered when I was in Aspen, Colorado 12 years earlier. That was the last time I had seen mountain peaks. Florida has a lot to offer but mountains - well, we're slightly above sea level where I live.
Now, I had been drawing and painting for a while before I decided to explore oil as a medium. For this grand painting I had planned, 37" by 49", there was no doubt in my mind that it must be done in oil. I purchased everything I needed, stretched my first canvas, and began, literally, to paint from the inside out - meaning, I painted from my heart. Color was very important to me - it had to feel cold - the snow had to have up-to-my knees depth - I wanted "white out" conditions - the mountain-top view needed to feel endless - all because that was the depth of my longing.
Well, I painted...scraped paint off...added more paint...took it off again - layered, layered and layered. For three weeks this went on. Much like a blizzard rails and rattles and consumes when it is in the throes of an arctic blast, I was consumed with this painting. How could I get the viewer to feel what I felt, me - my solitude - in a wondrous spot so vast? Well, in truth, I cannot get anyone to feel what I felt when I painted this, hard as I might try. Still, it is the back story to this painting, and hopefully not an overly sentimental one.
Winterlude
Prints and cards of this painting are available at Fine Art America.