Late Night Painting

Winter in South Dakota is dark.  And cold.
It is a good thing I've got my studio, otherwise I think I'd go stir-crazy.

I've been working on some watercolors as of late.  It is a continuation of a series I've been painting on and off for a few years now.  Winter always drives me to paint what is immediately around me.  The newest ones are interior views of my house.  Some are just sketches at this point, and others are further along:

Watercolor is a tricky beast.  It requires intense concentration, and is not very forgiving.  The hardest things to paint are the flat areas that fade from one color to another, or from light to dark.  For some reason I like to leave these until the end.  It is like a game of Russian roulette at that point.  One wrong move and the painting could be trash.  Maybe it is the sadist in me that likes such an intense challenge.

I use these watercolors:  Yarka St. Petersburg Watercolor Pans.  I prefer watercolor pans over watercolor tubes because I can easily have access to a huge palette for precise color mixing.  I love this set especially because it contains really high quality pigments.  They also re-wet pretty well once they dry on your palette, unlike most watercolor tubes I've used.  I've had this set for about 5 years now, and made over 40 paintings - so they last amazingly long.
But enough painting talk.
Here's a pic from outside my studio window.  Despite it being cold, it is extremely beautiful outside.
Glitter Snow!