A sunlit winter landscape of a rural section of Route 4, heading north from Montague into Roseneath, Epekwitk/Prince Edward Island.
Every trip can be an adventure: pausing plans, stopping to savour the moment when it surprises us with impermanent beauty.
It is a reminder to make the most of bright and mild weather, to explore and connect with the world around us, not just at our anticipated destination, but all along the journey.
The highway, wet with snowmelt, stretches across the bottom of the picture plane. Straight ahead, the road slopes downhill, between guardrails, and through a crossroads. In the distance, it curves uphill and to the right, and continues hidden behind the woodlands that line each side of the road. Snow, mostly clean and fresh and bright, fills the ditches and weighs on the branches and boughs of the trees, especially the evergreens in the foreground.
The highway itself is well cleared of snow. Standardized wayfinding signs are spaced along the right shoulder, and utility poles line both sides of the road. At the intersection, one light pole curves toward the road to provide illumination at night, but the moment captured in the painting is brightly sunlit, in the way that only happens after snow. Puffy clouds echo the light-reflecting curves of the snow blanketing the land and trees below.
I was a bit worried about immersing myself in a "cold" project during the coldest months. My Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD, aka “winter blues”) is now fairly well managed, finally, but it took decades of work to find the right combo of medication, clinical light therapy, and coping strategies – and of course making art.
But even when winter in general was much more of a struggle, there were always particular moments of beauty, joy, and connection.
Working on this piece through the winter of 2024/25 has been an expression of appreciation for those moments, and for the transportation infrastructure that helps me make the most of the best days by exploring the year-round beauty near my home, and the communication infrastructure that keeps me from being so isolated on the bad days – whether I am connecting with a friend through email, or curled up watching soothing nature documentaries of warmer places – and of course the electricity that makes it much more viable to make art even on short dark gloomy days.
The only pigments used in the entire painting were Titanium White, Zinc White, Transparent Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Blue, and Phthalocyanine Blue (Green Shade). I am still really enjoying pushing the limitations of such limited colours.
Framed: non-custom modern minimalist black plastic with sawtooth hanger.
