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Saturday, December 20, 2014

Capturing a Moment with Pastels

'The Dog Days of Winter'              10x10             pastel              ©Karen Margulis
sold
It was very cold and the snow was gently falling. I pulled back the curtains and was thrilled to see the dusting of white on the trees across the street. I got my wish for snow! It was early November in Chicago and snow wasn't in the forecast but it came anyway. I was excited to get outside and take some pictures.  We bundled up, put the baby in her snowsuit and walked across the street to the park.

It was so quiet. The blanket of snow seemed to muffle the noises of the city. As we walked deeper into the park it was as if we had left the city behind us. All I could hear was the crunch of snow under our feet. It was special snow ...the kind that you could see the crystalline structures of the snowflakes when they landed on our mittens.

We weren't really alone. Many others had ventured out into the park. A man with his coffee and son in tow. A couple strolling under the canopy of red berried trees. And people walking dogs. I had my camera and took quick snapshots. The pictures take me back to the park. But it was walking on the cold day and experiencing it with all of my senses that help me capture the moment with my pastels.

Adding some snow flurries 

Before the snow
Painting notes: 10x10 on Canson moonstone paper with a variety of pastels.

3 comments:

Sue Marrazzo Fine Art said...

nice!

MS Warrior said...

Beautiful! I just wanted to say, I love your blog, thank you for sharing your knowledge with all of us. I am so grateful!

robertsloan2art said...

Brr! Gives me the chills just to look at it! One of these times I'm going to do something with a rainy or snowy day, a windowsill and a cat sitting inside in the warm watching the outside weather. More my speed!

Beautiful painting! I love the way you did the snow blowing around, it's fantastic. It used to blow sideways like that when it came down, when I lived near Lake Shore Drive and used to go to lincoln Park.