Winter Sun, watercolour, 2011

My family walked the Spruce Bog trail in Algonquin Park on a bone-chilling day one February. The temperature was -14C and felt like -25C with the wind chill. My nostrils stuck together whenever I inhaled! However, it was a glorious winter day and the bright yellow sun against the blue sky, varied greens of the spruce trees and their blue shadows on the snow called for a painting...

Sometimes I don't have quite the right colour for an area. In that case layering can solve the problem. For example, to get the very dark green of the silhouettes in this drawing, I would start with my darkest green applying colour very thickly and then go over it with a dark brown or black pencil.