It was a day of learning

I painted this afternoon in Catherine Gibon's landscape class.  It was a beautiful day to paint.  About -8 C with a slight breeze.  It was cloudy when we started but every once in a while the sun would come out and light up the snow in glorious warm yellows and wonderful cool shadows.

I tried very unsuccessfully to capture the warm sun on the distant snow, the cool shadows in the foreground, the remains of the old dam and the waterfall.  It was too much to focus on and after two and a half hours I was cold and couldn't properly concentrate.  Cathy suggested that I work smaller than the 11" X 14" that I normally paint so that I don't have as much board to cover.  I also need to have one focal point and not three or four.  All in all it was a great day to be outside painting.