Cold beauty

Winter isn't done with us yet. A couple of weekend days of springlike weather gave way to temperatures back in the teens overnight, and I drove across the county this morning through a fine breeze blown snow that blurred the landscape into abstract shapes devoid of detail, soft greys and browns in a field of white. Splitting my attention between the road and the farm scenes east of Lancaster, I noticed the dark slash of a shallow creek that crosses the pasture and runs under Division Highway along my usual route to New Holland, and the image remained in my mind as I talked about Ruskin series cabinetry in front of a group of designers in town for a product knowledge seminar at Rutt HandCrafted Cabinetry.

After lunching with the group then giving some direction on hardware placement in the booth being staged there for the Architectural Digest Home Design Show now just three weeks away, I emerged into a brilliantly sunny afternoon to head back to the studio. Although having dressed up for my morning's appearance and hardly clad for outdoor sketching, I nonetheless pulled my car off the road near the farm that I’ve drawn twice before earlier this month. Figuring that I wouldn’t need gloves given the relatively mild 25 degree temperature, I took only my sketchbook and pencil tin for what I knew would be a short session.

I should have taken the gloves. Crouched against the guardrail atop a culvert with an icy creek running beneath me, my fingers stiffened quickly in the brisk wind that made it feel a whole lot colder than the thermometer implied. My hands numbed and thigh muscles cramped from squatting with the sketchbook balanced on my knees. I didn’t waste time getting a minimal impression of what I needed then hightailing it back to the shelter of my car. But, as usually is the case, the experience of engaging with the landscape as I do when I take time to draw was worth the discomfort, even made me relish it.  And it reminded me that winter weather demands my respect.

late February afternoon, Lancaster county, 11-1/2 x 8-1/4, 7B graphite, Derwent Inktense and Prismacolor pencils, larger image in drawings gallery