Painting of the week- “Sledding”

I enjoy taking workshops to expand my knowledge of art and design. Last winter I participated in “Create Christmas”, an online class exploring Christmas imagery with Victoria Johnson Design. Each week she provided us with mood boards and a design theme to work with. She encourages everyone to experiment with different mediums. I am predominately a watercolor artist but this course has challenged me to use gouache, inks, and colored pencils in my pieces. New England Christmas was the theme for the first week of class. Red barns, snow, snowmen, vintage pick up trucks, and pine trees were the subject matter we explored. 

I grew up in Connecticut so this theme was something I could personally relate to.  I started with a sketch of children skating on a frozen Pond, with a red barn and snow dappled evergreens. I painted in watercolor and layered the colors to create a rich traditional color palette. I don’t paint figures often but challenged myself to include them in the piece. 

I had so much fun with this design that I went on the create 3 more pieces and each one featured a different winter sport. This watercolor painting focuses on Sledding and fun in the snow. The others featured Pond Hockey, Ice Skating and Skiing. 

My dog April can be found in this scene. Can you spot her? Kids are sliding down the hill and climbing back up, building a snowman and having snowball fights. All these things remind me of my childhood in snowy New England. I am looking forward to creating more designs in this theme because as a surface pattern designer I am always dreaming up new designs.

Sledding in New England featured as the painting of the week by Melissa Hyatt