Longing for Winter

I painted this in 2020. It was the end of August when it had been particularly hot and dry. My mind wandered a lot during that time due to us being in the middle of the covid 19 pandemic. Times were difficult, weekend events had been cancelled and it seemed we would never get through it. Some scientists had thought winter would bring the end of the virus with the colder weather. While scrolling social media, I came across the photo and since winter brought the promise of the end, I decided to use the image to reference this painting. I am fairly sure it is a picture of an old Christmas card and I loved how the red cardinal and berries looked against the dark green foliage and the way the winter snow blurred the scene.

It felt refreshing to paint a winter scene during the heat of summer. I think everyone who saw it felt the same because they made comments about it and I really enjoyed laughing with them about how I must be trying to convince myself it was not hot at all.

I hope you express your art too and remember that the world needs to enjoy what you create. Everyone has an artist inside them. Art comes in many forms so don't feel you have to paint to be an artist. If you create something, it's art and someone will enjoy it as much as you do.