Winter seemed to last for a long time this year. After the Autumn leaves had all been cleared away by our helpful gardener, we settled into those months of short days and long nights. The view in winter can feel a bit unchanging at times. We get a lot of those grey drizzly days where the colour just seems to drain away from the whole place. We also had a lot of rain but rain is surprisingly hard to paint so I opted for the grey drizzle instead. The only real colour in this picture comes from the grass and the cars. I do like the way the trees in the park fade away in the background in this sort of light though. It got me thinking that it might be nice to do some misty woodland scenes at some point.
It's not all rain though. We get quite a few of those bright frosty days and of course, the occasional dump of snow. Being in the South of England we don't get a lot of snow but every now and then it descends in a blanket overnight (a bit like those Autumn leaves did a few months ago) and covers everything in sight. I don't think it matters where you are in the world, a covering of snow transforms a place. Being British, we like to complain about how it has stopped us getting our cars out and then we whinge about how South West Trains never seem prepared for this sort of thing and wonder why cant they run trains in the snow like other countries. But I like it. The lack of trains gives me a day away from the office and apart from that, what's not to love - it looks amazing. I particularly liked the way the wind blew the snow onto the side of the trees so, for few hours, even the trunks were covered in a winter blanket.
