As mentioned in my last post, the weather has been cooperative here in Minnesota.  We've been hovering in the mid twenties for highs and have had almost consistent cloud cover.  This dismal stretch of Siberian bleakness has dispirited a few who have sought and found solace in the fact the Vikings are still alive.  One can be glued to news to kept abreast of the latest update of statiscal game analysis.   Others have fled to warmer sunnier climates, but I find these melancholy days to be great for focusing on this blankness, and finding beauty outdoors.  You know, that's the space between heated environments.

Before painting the Cedar tree pictured here, I considered long and hard if it was a good candidate for study.  Its unruly branches going this way and that, covered in frost, alone in the tundra...ok, so I embellish a bit.  Anyway, the degree of separation value wise to it's surroundings was minimal at best.  The wild articulations would take a while to depict.  Sure it looked neat, but to say that in paint, well, that's another thing.

I decided to take the plunge.  I was amazed at how low in value the snow needed to be.  The frosty branches were even lower.  Lights and darks were entangled and interchanged, totally dependent on its neighbor's values to say if they were sky, or snow, light against dark.  All in all the battle was hard fought and the result very rewarding.