616 March Melt

This scene is looking north-west from the top of the hill behind the farm house. This was the second day of the spring thaw. A dramatic change in the upper jet stream which the models did pick up two weeks ahead of time, allowed the temperatures to get above freezing for the first time in two months. The temperatures had been 5 to 10 degrees Celsius below normal and now they were 5 to 10 degrees above normal. Everything was melting.

The colour of the hills and the moisture hanging in the air inspired me to focus on the colours rather than the details. The colours are absolutely right on. The cedars have that pale, orange, green colour to them and there is some pink blush on the tips of the willows that line the swamp that is in the valley behind the hills. The details of the sky shining through the distant forest and the deer trail that runs up the shoulder of the hill to the right are there.

Red-winged blackbirds, robins, a Northern Shrike, a Northern Harrier plus a murder of crows, kept me very entertained. The family Chesapeake was along with me and only lost two balls in the sugary snow on the hillside.

The panel had been primed with a medium-light coat of raw sienna.

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