Midwinter Sky & Birds

© Robin Edmundson, 'Midwinter Sky & Birds', watercolor, 18x24 inches. 
Framed to 26x32 inches.  $750.

I've been working with this scene for a while and I realized that what it really wanted was more space, so I worked it up in a larger format. I love it.

Our winter palette is mostly umbers and ochres - until it snows, and for a few days it's hard to tell where the sky stops and the trees and fields begin. Then the trees shake off the snow and clouds and re-establish the boundaries.

There is a stark beauty in a winter day like that, with scraps of earth showing through the snow. On a day like this, there is quiet in the clutter of our woods and farms, with nothing to distract from the ebb and flow of winter birds moving from one field to the next.

I love this about Indiana.

First Light

© Robin Edmundson, 'First Light', watercolor, 14 x 10 inches
Framed to 22 x 18 inches.  $375

You know that moment on a winter morning, when the sun finally breaks over the horizon and the twilight blues and purples coalesce into bright shadows on the snow?   

I love that moment.   Hello, morning!

Winter Barn, Purple Shadows

© Robin Edmundson, 'Winter Barn, Purple Shadows', watercolor, 10 x 14 inches
Framed to 18 x 22 inches. $375

The shadows this winter have been really interesting.   It's been so wet that there is a perpetual haze in the woods and it's been so cloudy that the shadows aren't their typical winter blue.  I've enjoyed the challenge and have been happily experimenting with new color combinations.   This one made me particularly happy. 

Midwinter Sky

© Robin Edmundson, 'Midwinter Sky 1', watercolor, 10 x 14 inches. 

This scene has been in my head for a few weeks now.   I finally put it to paper.   I'm kind of in love with it, so I'll be playing with this a lot more in the next little while.

Haan Museum of Indiana Art

Haan Museum living room with three Hoosier masterpieces on the wall. 
[There were many more in that room.]

A couple of weeks ago, Lily and I drove up to Lafayette, Indiana to get my painting from the 'Hoosier Women Artists:  Works Selected for the Indiana Statehouse' exhibit that just ended at the Haan Mansion Museum of Indiana Art.

This museum is amazing.   We met the people who restored the house from a crumbling wreck and who filled it full of the treasures of Indiana art and American furniture.  We toured the house and were overwhelmed with the wonderful things there.  Tickets are $10 for adults and well worth the price given that this place is packed full of rich architectural and artistic history.   It will take me several more trips to fully appreciate all that is there.

On this trip I was there to pick up my painting, 'Winter White', which had hung in the Lt. Governor's offices for a year and then came here for the special exhibit of all the paintings in one place.  Here it is hanging on the wall in one of the upstairs bedrooms.

Here's a full view of the piece, which, I am happy to report, is home again at last.

© Robin Edmundson, 'Winter White', watercolor, 10 x 14 inches. 

Another Experiment - Leonard's Barn

© Robin Edmundson, 'Leonard's Barn' work in progress,  watercolor, 10 x 14 inches

I've been playing with really wet, messy washes, lots of color, lots of granulating pigments and some simplified compositions. 

This piece is really overworked, but the concept is pretty good and I think with practice I'll be able to do things like this more comfortably.   It will be good for me to lay in the wash and then leave it alone.  

Snowstorm Coming

© Robin Edmundson, 'Snowstorm Coming', watercolor, 12 x 9 inches

Winter clouds have become a topic of dinner conversation around here as well as the subject of many photos emailed from job sites, highways, vacations, etc.    It's been fun.

What has been slightly less fun is mastering how to capture some of that atmosphere on paper.  The painting here was the 13th effort in 3 days.

I painted them dry.  I painted them wet.  I painted them wet and dry.  I painted them right side up and then upside down and then right side up again.   I painted with 3 different blues and 2 browns.  Big brushes.  Bigger brushes.  My regular brushes.  Fronts of papers, then backs of papers. I have a freakishly tall pile of winter cloud rejects in the studio right now.

But finally, this one worked.  I'd like to say it's because I finally figured out how to paint clouds, but I'd have to paint them 'right' every day for a month before I'd be willing to say I'd figured it out.

I'll keep practicing and they'll get easier - or at least take fewer drafts to get there.  In the meantime, I like these clouds.  I'm loving the snow specks on the barn.   And the footprints.   And the human.   [Big risk, putting that human in there.   It was the last thing I did.]

Deets:
140lb cp paper, Arches
12 x 9 inches
colors:  indigo, WN burnt sienna, raw umber, burnt umber

Snow

It snowed.  


A lot.  


I feel as thorny as this locust. 

Snow and Lichen

I love the look of these lichens.  They're everywhere here.  On the trees, the stones, the garden sculptures, the ground.  In the summer they look pale and ghostly, but in the winter, those soft blues and greens shine.   I liked the colors of these lichens with the oak leaf against the snow.  

Magic

This is the creek that runs down the hill next to the road from Solsberry to the black barn.   It meanders, like all of our creeks do.    It looks nice in all seasons, but looks spectacular decked out in white.

I love those snows where the snow sticks to every twig and branch.   It's magical.


We specialize in magic around here.   

Crazy Winter

So.   We had a little weather here.  

Late Saturday night it started raining.  Temps hung out around freezing and early Sunday morning we had a beautiful snow - huge flakes falling straight down.   Then late morning, the snow turned to slush.   It snowed snowcones for hours.   It was so wet it was puddling - the ducks loved it.   By afternoon, we had 3 inches of mushy slush everywhere. I watched this flowerpot collect the snow and slush all day on Sunday, the snow piling in straight lines up on the tiny edge.

Late Sunday afternoon, the slush turned to snow again and we got a lot more snow - that melted into the slush.

Fun.

At the end of the day, things looked like this.  It was magical.

Then the temps dropped and the wind blew and in the morning, it still looked just like this.   Snow was frozen in globs all over everything.

It was just too darn cold to go outside so you'll have to imagine the blue and white twinkling world we had as that deadly Arctic Vortex slammed us.   We and the animals stayed indoors for the next two days until the temps climbed to the double digits again.  I've never been so happy to see 11 degrees above zero. 

Tracks

When it snows out here, all those hidden creatures that you know live out here, but never see [or rarely, anyway] leave tracks.  Here is actual evidence of their existence and recent visits.   This is a pretty busy place.

I found these tracks in the snow next to the studio.   I think they're chipmunk or vole tracks.  

They ran along the rock wall where I have some alpine strawberries planted.    Poor thing was probably looking for a snack. 

Later, on a walk, Lily noticed these tracks going down the road.   I was glad I had the camera.

Turkey.

Winter Hives

Just before the big snow, I checked the hives.  The center one is dead already.   The other two [on either end of the row] are doing fine.   I seized the moment during the warm weather we had before the big snow to make some more bee candy and put it on the tops of the frames in each hive.  I figured it would be extra insulation when the temps dropped way down after the storm.  [The shortest darker blue box is just an empty super.  No bees in there.]

I'm thinking that the cause of the deadout was bees weakened by varroa.   I noticed some bees with deformed wings in the summer and fall.  The deformed wings are caused by Deformed Wing Virus [DWV], one of the many ills that varroa mites bring to a hive.   I didn't treat for mites in an effort to be chemical free and the hive was too weak to last very long at all.   Gone by the beginning of December. 

I hate losing a hive this way but I have very mixed feelings about treating with chemicals.   Maybe I should have done more sugar shakes. 

At any rate, the other two hives seemed good and active [and defensive] and now they have plenty of candy for the next two months.   On warm days I'll see if there's any action up there. 

We left the snow on the hives as extra insulation for the deep freeze that followed the storm. The lower entrances are covered with snow but the bees have a top entrance under the lip of the telescoping lids so they can get out if they really want to.  I doubt they do.  

Hoop House Collapse

We had some heavy snow last week

You probably heard about that.

We were stuck away from the place for a couple of days and when we got back, we found this.

And this.  The hoop house didn't like the weight of freezing rain and 8 inches of snow.  Since we weren't there to brush it off occasionally during the storm, it came down. 

A few of the pvc supports broke off at the base and then the center top support broke in half when the thing came down. 

It would have been cool to see happen.

We swept the snow off with brooms and Eric climbed inside and reoriented everything while I hauled the pool ladders over so we could put them inside in case it decides to 'rest' again.  [This is why rural people keep all kinds of junk around.   You never know when you'll need that second old pool ladder.]

Notice the plastic over the greens in the beds.  The double protection really paid off. 

It looks like this now.    Eric's planning on replacing the pvc with metal conduit.   And a door on the end, which should give it a bit more stability for the next time we're away from home during a big snow [which I hope is never.]

This is what was under the lower plastic bed covers.   Lots of nice greens, slowly getting bigger and bigger.

January salads!

Winter Tractor

Next year, they want a tractor barn for Christmas.

Black and White and Sepia

I have a great fondness for high contrast photos with a touch of sepia in them.  

Just a touch. 

Our woods are full of sepia this time of year - beech leaves and oak leaves stay on the trees until new leaves push them off in early spring.

The creek beds show sepia layers of iron deposits.   

The woods are carpeted with the rest of last years leaves.    Sepia.

 Then, when it snows... 


the trees are black with white frosting and the sepia shines like gold. 

Sweet Mother of chiaroscuro, it takes my breath away.   


If you had to pick a favorite, which would you pick?

Blue and White

Richland Creek, Greene County, Indiana 

The Hives in Winter

All tucked in for the duration.  The center hive really isn't a hive, but a stack of spare supers there to freeze for the season.   The freezing kills things like wax moth larvae. 

We have screened bottom boards in both hives. In the Tardis [in the front] we put solid inserts for the winter because it's a horizontal hive, but in the flower lang [in the back of the photo], we left the screen open for the winter.   In addition, I put pencil ends in each corner of their telescoping [top] lids to keep the lids propped up a bit so that air can move across the inner covers and evaporate the moisture that builds up inside. 

Moisture is bad.  The inside of the hives will stay warmer than the outside, so the moisture from bee breath and honey will condense.  Then if it really gets cold, that condensation will freeze everywhere in the hive and kill a lot of them.   The object of the winter game for beekeepers is to keep them dry.  They'll handle the cold on their own.

This pic was taken after the first little snow.  We've had another 16 inches since.   You'll see that their front porches are covered in snow.   After the pic, I cleaned the snow from in front of their lower entrances and made sure the top lids were pushed [and therefore open] to the front.  That allows air in and out. 

Pretty

Remember when it snowed?

I know it's kind of schizophrenic to go from tropical fruit trees yesterday to snow scenes today.   These are from a week or so ago.   Just a couple of days after those tornados ripped through southern Indiana.

That's what the weather in Indiana is like.

Not that it's actually snowing today.



And not like we grow tropical fruit trees here, except in greenhouses and studios with a lot of windows. 

It's just that the weather in Indiana is variable. 

Variable, I tell you. It's supposed to be 80 degrees again today.

And sometimes the daffodills bloom and then it snows a couple of inches overnight. 

And in the morning Lily gets up and takes these gorgeous pictures of our gorgeous place in the middle of nowhere Indiana. 

Life is good.