Campus Snow Covered Steps

As the sun was going down I made a quick painting on campus of the snow covered steps with one of the old buildings in the background. Some of those windows on the middle floors are the classroom where I am set to teach in a few weeks from now. To get the rich warm brick colour I mixed yellow ochre (PY43) with orange (PO62), while the roof was mostly green with some yellow and orange (PO36, PY97, PO62). I knew that the composition would rely on the strong diagonal of the snow covered steps, and the contrast between warm background colours with the cool foreground colours. There is an old adage about cool in the distance and warmth in the foreground, but that is just an old myth. As you can see from the painting, the overlapping elements and contrasting colours create a sense of depth even through cool colours are in the foreground and warm colours are in the distance.  

Campus Snow Covered Steps, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2024