Well it had to happen. After a couple months of constant snow my paintings followed suit. I am taking on a large winter landscape project but wanted to dive in and play with some small images first. The commission is a different color scheme but it’s good to get my groove on with these first.
We have been buried in snow for months with months to go. I enjoy the scenery but it can also be difficult… paying my respects to the winter.
Short winter days often bring dramatic conclusions. As pretty as the sunset is looking to the East is often more dramatic. The snow covered mountains get blasted with the final shot of sunlight.
Scenes from just outside my studio (eagles filmed through my studio window). This is where I draw my inspiration, the endless well. North Idaho is snow country which can be tough but it is also incredibly gorgeous.
I had a friend in college named Andrew Hofmeister. He was a retired art professor at Washington State University. He was a huge artistic influence on me, I wish I would have told him that. At the time he owned a family vacation home on Flathead Lake in Montana. He let me stay up there periodically, in the basement of his cabin. Mr Hofmeister told me “be inspired but don’t let the view dictate your painting”. I think about that a lot, I hope he would appreciate my work now. I am pretty directly influenced by nature but it is the mood and movement of paint that are my key subjects. Now I have a studio and live roughly half way between WSU and his former cabin in Montana.
Vernal Equinox has arrived. North Idaho has already had a real taste of spring. A bit more snow in the forecast but it is the last gasp of winter.
The beauty of the low sun and winter light. The magic moments are so brief, impossible to hold. Final studio capture of this piece.
This piece was sold through Horizon Fine Art Gallery in Jackson Hole (a couple years back). It was inspired by the beauty of the Kootenai National Wildlife Refugee in North Idaho.
An experimental older painting I recently dug up. I made a couple modifications and hung it in the studio.
The darkness of this painting seems appropriate for the winter solstice. Looking forward to more daylight!
More inspiration from the forest. I am very fortunate to live close to a National Forest trailhead. I have been using it constantly and it renews my inspiration daily. With so much snow already building up, not sure if I will be able to keep it up… I will try.
brian sostrom 