“There Came An Early Snow” 36" x 24" (Prints Available)

"There Came an Early Snow" in my mind is depicting a late October snow on the back road in upstate NY from the little community where we lived that crossed over the the hill to the town of Hamilton. The fall colors there are beautiful, but we would often wake up to a blanket of fresh snow while the fiery leaves were still on the trees. We also had a church-affiliated summer camp nestled at the top of this hill that I spent many happy summers attending and eventually became a camp counselor. On winter days such as the one depicted in the painting, we would have a camp snow day. Everyone would sled down the long hill and had people on snowmobiles at the bottom that would drive us back up. When we were ice cold and chattering, we would finally warm up in front of the big stone fireplace in the camp’s mess hall with a mug of hot chocolate.

I started this one several years ago and the large canvas was a bit daunting. It sat unfinished for about five years, but I was determined to complete all unfinished pieces! It is lighter and brighter than depicted in this photo so it is better to see it in person. There are are about seven layers of depth to this painting. I like to use very small brushes so there are thousands of tiny, meticulous, and detailed brush strokes. It took me around two years of putting my heart and soul in to finish it and is my best piece to date.