morning painting session

It's another cold, wintry day, a good day to stay inside and paint. I chose one of my photographs to use as a basis of a painting. I had taken that photograph in August of 2014, when I went to a ceremony to remember the victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I took the photograph at the Japanese gardens in Delaware Park in Buffalo, New York. The garden design is based on a garden design in Kanazawa, Japan, Buffalo's sister city.

First, I started with a sketch (see above).

My next step was to do the underpainting. It is tempting to paint all of the background trees one shade of green but, in real life, trees are not that uniform. So I varied the colors of the trees, mixing together a very dark yellow (almost brown), yellow, red, and a few shades of green. 

After letting the painting dry, I continue to add color.

This is the finished version of the bears at the Japanese garden. It was fun for me to imagine a world full of color on a cold winter day.

This is the photograph, which was taken in the summer.

Question for discussion: What do you like to do to add color to your world during the winter?