EARLY MORNING IV

I was wandering about outside one morning after a night of snow and saw this unusual cloud formation. Since there was only a light wind, I was able to work in comfort and completed the sky first working quickly while the cloud pattern was still fresh in my mind. Most of these smaller paintings I try and finish outside but sometimes as in this case, the painting was completed in the studio. Mostly this consisted of the finer details in the trees and grasses etc but I also touched up the sky in places. There is a strong horizontal feeling to this work, the bands of thin cloud are echoed in the foreground by the grasses and to a lesser extent, the patterns in the snow. Oil on canvas, 9" x 12" (23cm x 30cm). Private collection.