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The glow of companionship warms the heart of this cabin in the forest where friends gather and share their stories warmed by the crackling fire. It is a really pretty setting on the way to Mt. Hood. The evergreens are so tall and thick in here that you can hardly see the sky at night. Although, one time we got lucky and the full moon was right overhead at 3:00 in the morning when I peeked out. This is a such special place that we want to go back to again and again. Especially if there's snow!

Yesterday I posted my new painting "Moonlit" (you can see it below) and wanted to talk about it and today's painting a bit. These paintings at night are called nocturnes, a phrase that James McNeil Whistler used to describe a night painting. I have been working on nocturnes, as they provide a new set of challenges for me. In today's watercolor I started out by painting the entire page maroon. After that dried I came back with a dark blue and dark green that I thought would cover well, but no… the colors were too transparent. So I pulled out the opaque colors in my palette and tried again. The "Moonlit" painting I think I went over 5 times to get that smooth dark blue sky. The tree was painted at least 3 if not 4 times. I got the moon in the first try. I was reading that the light only sparkles on ice and snow when the light catches it at a perpendicular angle, so that's why only some of the branches of the tree twinkle in the "Moonlit" watercolor. Painting is such a learning process and just when I think I am about to the top of the mountain, I get to a peak and see there is another mountain I want to climb. So this journey of 50 days is part of my learning process. I still have several more mountains (that I know of) that I want to climb! The good part is I am enjoying the journey so much!

I listened to another Rimsky-Korsakov opera today. "The Snow Maiden" staged by the Paris Opera Bastille. Again the music was very nice.

"Moonlit"  7" x 5"  Watercolor and Gouache

Sending out good thoughts to you all. Only 15 days left!
Kristi

If you would like to read about the 50 Days of Painting, you can read this blog post. 
You can see all of the watercolors in the 50 Days of Painting project here.