Painting and Birding 'round the Long Island Sound

At last, a New England Winter!  I've always wanted to experience one...  so much so that I even moved to New England ten years ago.  But Southwestern Connecticut is only technically New England; latitude and shore-effect keep the winters fairly mild, typically, and snowfall minimal.  Not this year!  Since Christmas we have had storm after storm, with increasing frequency, each one dumping at least half a foot, some well over that.  The snowplows have run out of places to put all the snow, and the piles at the end of my driveway are nearly as tall as I am.  Everyone is grumbling and groaning, and my giddiness must make them even more annoyed!

I see snow as the reward for bearing with the cold.  I hate cold, I must confess.  I do like dressing in layers, but it still takes all of my enthusiasm for nature and the outdoors to go out on a raw, bone-chilling day.  Add snow, however, and almost any amount of cold is OK.  Fresh snow especially, untrodden and clinging to every branch.  With a blizzard or two a week, we've had no shortage of it!

Winter Pear, from my sketchbook, January 27 2011

Yes, a large part of my love for snow is aesthetic.  Who can resist that Christmas-card quality of a landscape cushioned in snow?  But it is more than just a pretty picture.  In this noisy, congested world we live in, a walk in a snowy wood can envelope you in a silence that could convince you that you were miles from civilization.  It is an illusion, but an essential one; for many it may be the only time when one can feel so alone and at peace with nature.  For some, myself included, it approaches a kind of religious experience.  It is a feeling I cannot express properly in words, but which I also have yet to express in art.   I've done plenty of plein-air painting in winter, but so far few of my attempts have captured even a fraction of that elusive feeling.  One day, I am sure, I will get somewhere close.  This winter, I am happy to say, has been giving me plenty of opportunities to try! 

"Deep Snow" 2011, Sean Murtha