Saturday, February 7, 2009

An Introduction to the Snow

I'd forgotton how cold cold could be until I got here - and it was only minus 2° C! Thank goodness for central heating. It is warming up a bit - now 0° C and it was nice to get out this morning. It takes about 20 minutes to get dressed for the outside, something I'm not used to. Hat, gloves, two coats and boots but when we were ready, we ventured into the forest area at the back of the house.

The sunshine (what there is of it) really makes a pretty picture of the snow.

It was a little gloomier this morning in the forest at the back of the house. But we had fun throwing snowballs at each other!

A little story - apparently some hunters were firing their guns (I absolutely hate the thought of hunting beautiful wild animals, but there you go), and in the process they woke up a bear. This caused a bit of concern as a hungry bear in the middle of winter is not the best creature to have wandering around the forests. The hope is that it found something to eat and has gone back to sleep. It was woken up not too far from here!

No painting thus far, only photographs. Will get there a little later.



19 comments:

sanjeev joshi said...

hi liz,remember hot and cold are relative terms,now you will say SA is hot! and india hotter!!
4-0 india!
waiting to see your frozen paintings.

Cathy Gatland said...

Wow Liz, quite a change from baking Cape Town! Keep warm, and ostoresssafe from hungry bears - why hunters want to hunt in this day and age I don't know!

Cathy Gatland said...

oops - that 'ostoress' bit was the word verification - don't know how it got there!

Unknown said...

whoa...snow... good painting scenes coming up soon I'm sure. Thanks for all the support Liz. You're a sweetheart and I'll always remember your kindness. HUGS!

Marian Fortunati said...

Hi Liz...
Wow already some gorgeous photos... I'm sure they'd make great paintings from your hand.
Hope you're enjoying being with the family!

Carol Schiff Daily Painting said...

Beautiful photos, I am sure Sweden must be wonderful this time of year.....don't know about that whole bear thing!

Susan Martin Spar said...

Brrrrr, Liz! Looks like where I live. But it is beautiful. We all expect some winter scenes when you get back to painting. Enjoy the stuff while you can. It's nice when you only have to live with it a short time.

Art with Liz said...

Hi Sanjeev, when you're in the cold, it's no longer relative! And here it's COLD - minus 7 this morning! When I get back home to the Autumn, I'll agree with you again!

My sister skyped me yesterday Cathy, and said it was 35Cº at home - but as Sanjeev says, it's all relative - hah!

Hi Nancy, it was a papa bear - apparently the mama bear sleeps in caves and shelters, but the papa bear sleeps under trees! How true that is, I don't know. Maybe an angry papa bear isn't quite as bad as a mama bear, but the honey has been put away!

Kindess Sheila, is easy to give to a person such as yourself. Keep safe and remember, you are entitled to those bouts of anger. Only then can you return to the bubbly person you are.

I'm going to try doing at least one landscape in watercolour, Marian, but I haven't touched them for so long and I'm battling with the medium right now. And I've never been one for plein air painting, so I have a serious challenge on my hands.

Hello Carol, it is really pretty here and lovely when you gaze at the landscape through a window from a centrally heated room. The family live in the country 12 km outside a town called Norrtalje so there is a lot of forest and farm land which makes a lovely picture.

You're right Susan, I'm not really complaining as I have such a short time in this cold climate, and I am enjoying it. But I seriously don't envy you guys this stuff year after year!

r garriott said...

Liz, I'm trying to figure out where you are with all the snow!

Thanks for your special placement of my photo tips on your blog! That is so kind of you. I hope they will be helpful to many.

Barbara Pask said...

Hi LIz, The woods are just beautiful, you should paint this. I love your paintings of the pugs, soooo cute!

rob ijbema said...

wow look at all that snow!
what a brilliant adventure...

Saundra Lane Galloway said...

Liz, I LOVE the one in the middle...so looking forward to seeing your painting magic on it! And, so nice of you to put bits of our paintings on your blog...I'm going to have to see about doing that myself. Great! And, thanks for your comments on my blog! Happy Painting to you!

Helen Percy Lystra said...

Beautiful photos... would love to see what you do with them.

Unknown said...

Hi Liz! *waving paws* I hope you whip out the paints and capture these. Thanks for asking about Carlos, we are still waiting for more tests so I'm hoping it will all be better very soon. It makes me sad to think of people hunting, just breaks my heart, I hope the bear found somewhere safe to go back to sleep...
hugs from Texas...

Art with Liz said...

Hello r.garriott and I hope you get lots and lots of visitors looking at your artwork as well. I am just north of Stockholm at the moment - hope that helps!

Hi there Barbara. The woods are very pretty behind the house but I am having tremendous difficulty putting them down on paper. I think I got too used to using oils and am seriously battling to get back into watercolours. Oh well, got to keep trying.

Art with Liz said...

Hi Rob - the snow is, well, there's a lot of it! But I am NOT going plein air painting. It's great walking around in it, but stay too long in one spot and I think I'll become an ice statue. I leave the plein air stuff to brave souls like yourself.

Just go to your site list Saundra, and it gives you the option to include thumbnails. It's great. As for painting - ok I'm trying, I'm trying.

Art with Liz said...

Thank you for visiting my blog, Helen. I went into yours and love the different mediums you use and how you use them. Will keep an eye on yours from now on.

Hi Nancy and thanks so much for the paw waves - much loved and appreciated. Hopefully the painting will come!

Carol said...

Hello Liz!!!!
The pugs are beautiful, the photos of the snow are magical - I am dying to see the paintings!!! As you can see, I have not been near the computor for a while but I have been painting.

Art with Liz said...

Hey Carol was wondering where you were. When are you going to post?