As Denver set a record for the most days without snowfall, in a menagerie of paintings by Edward (Ned) Aldrich, Colorado wildlife lives forever surrounded by the white stuff. Aldrich paints owls, wolves, pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep, rabbits and other North American species in heart-warming wintry scenes widely celebrated and collected.
“Painting snow offers lots of challenges,” Aldrich said. “Being white, snow has no inherent color, so the color is entirely dependent on the colors around it that it reflects. The cool blues of the sky, the warm tones of fur or rocks subtly influence the color of snow.”
Aldrich added that spending time outdoors in the snow is critical to the success of his winter wildlife compositions.
“The subtleties of snow are very hard for a camera to pick up, so the blues are often overstated, and the white is overblown. Direct observation and documentation are key to gather the more accurate information on the varying tones and subtleties of snow,” he said. “An artist becomes aware of just how little pure white or pure blues are used painting snow.”…