February in my world

Today is  a grand day here in my world.  This is the front walk-way to the Dutch Valley house, where I live.  The next pic is my horses having their hay on a bed of snow.  After about 7 weeks of no weather this January, we have had snow every day now for 4 days, and I guess it may continue until Saturday eve. sometime.   Well, there will no shortage of snow scenes to paint!   Down at the ranch house on Foothill Road, where I now am, the scene is just beautiful.  This ranch is different than the Dutch Valley Ranch, just below the Mt's that Lake Tahoe sits on, at close to 8 Thousand ft. (the lake basin)  We are in the Carson Valley, well the edge of it, at about 5100 feet.  The Mt. makes it look very rustic, with the sprawling valley below us.  This is where Lorenzo Chavez came and painted one day, with his workshop in '09- - - Wow, that was cool!

Anyhow, no painting to show you today, but I do have one on my easel.  Its quite large, and I have run into a problem of resolving and connecting the shadows,(darks), and making them go back in space the way I envision it to be.   I have done drawings, notes, sketches and I think it will  work out- - - - - - - - - just need time to work on it and get it finished.  Its a full sheet of Canson,  I think it will be OK.    If not, my time has not been wasted, as I will have learned from this- - -  -and will continue on with this sort of thing, finding the answers as I go.    I have found a great new ( to me)  blog to follow and learn from - - - http://www.marlabaggettastudio.com/     Take a look at her work.   I hope to stay at home in Dutch Valley Saturday, tomorrow and work.  For today, I will study about some value patterns, and composition ideas that interest me, and cook, and feed my animals, and pack in wood.   Fun, Fun , Fun!