Frozen Fluidity, Ice, Ice Baby!

Frozen fluidity is the name of today’s work, to quote Vanilla Ice '' Ice, ice, Baby'' and hopefully the last for this year! 

Frozen Fluidity

Pastel 

Usually, I get obsessed by the trees in my painting, but this time my focus was on that ice! My little artist’s microcosm, our canal was frozen and the frost and snow upon the ice created interesting stripes. 

There you go, you get an idea of what I'm talking about. The branches dipping down into the water and those fabulous stripes. My work is always a mixture of sketching, reference photos and plein air. Reference photos are just that, a reference; something to stimulate the imagination and not to be copied slavishly. Here I really have changed everything, format, focus, landscape and that is OK, I'm not about reproducing photos. 

This is me setting my lights and dark values, I like working on mid tone surfaces, I feel it eases seeing values, getting your lights and darks right is imperative, the mid values come in with ease, those lights and darks when gone are gone forever (perhaps a little overdramatised) but if you’re not careful a mid value mud is what you get. 

Now time to set those mid values, although I'm looking for an icy feel, some warm blues and turquoises into that ice, but keeping the trees back cool and frosty. I loved the patterns made on the frozen surface, little light dabs of snow and frosty lines. These I popped in with grated white pastel powder and pastel pencil. As usual I have a favourite part of the painting, bottom left where the branches dip into the frozen surface. 

However much I enjoyed this, I've had enough of ice, ice baby! Time for  '' the heat is on!''