Art & Photo: Visiting Kane Woods on a Snowy Afternoon

Off in the woods during the previous good snowfall in mid-January, I stood in the snow and painted a little pastel sketch as well as took photos of the snowy hollow at Kane Woods Nature Area in Scott Township, PA. I’d been waiting for a significant snowfall, enough to give good even cover to most of the leaf litter not just because it would cover a certain amount of stuff and details I'd rather not paint, but it would also change the quality of light, reflecting light into areas typically dark and changing the light to a cooler tone, more blue and purple.

Much of this conservation area faces north and doesn’t catch significant sunlight, especially in the winter when the sun’s angle is low, but this little hollow and the hill next to it face south so I had the benefit of both direct sunlight and reflected sunlight. Once the sun gets into the hollow it just fills it up, especially when snow can reflect it in all directions.

On the quiet sunny winter afternoon this little unnamed tributary surely had a lot to say, babbling along over rocks and shelves of slate and limestone on its way to Scrubgrass Creek a distance away. The light changes quickly at this time of year, and I had to work quickly; I had to finish it up from the reference photo at home for the sun already setting behind Providence Point and the limited number of pastels I can carry in my art bag for painting en plein air.

"Tributary" is 9" x 12" , painted in chalk pastel on sanded drawing paper. I didn't take an easel with me but used a cardboard package of drawing paper as a base, holding it in my hand, my pastels on the top of my backpack, on top of a rock next to me. Walking through the snow is complicated enough without an extra item to carry, though I'm looking for one of the compact new sturdy and lightweight easels I've seen in art stores.

You can see I took some liberties with the colors, but, first, the little point and shoot digital I used for this photo doesn't accurately record color in certain circumstances, and especially in the case of reflected light which is what snow is all about. Second, I took this photo when I first arrived and finished the painting at least an hour later, an eon on a short winter day, and the light and shadows were completely different. Also, I usually do a quick pencil or ink sketch of a spot on a separate piece of drawing paper before I begin to paint just to familiarize myself with the objects and perspective of the scene. I was too concerned at taking time for it with limited sunlight, and that made the stream in the distance more difficult to deal with.

I most often paint in my studio from photos or simply from memory, static subjects. Painting en plain air or "in the open air" is a completely different venture and livens up my studio painting in the same way being out in nature does for me generally—I see more details and combinations of color and light, plus the scene is constantly changing so I have to be very alert in order to really capture the scene, distilling the period of time I spent painting into a moment caught in my painting. It certainly helps to know the place well enough; I had in mind that I wanted to paint this stream so I didn't have to walk all over the trails to find a good spot, using valuable afternoon sunlight in the process.

The Kane Woods Conservation Area is a place I’ve known since I was a child, before it was conserved and trails were established, but my lifetime of visiting and that of others is what inspired Scott Conservancy to consider the site worth working for.

And while I am a member of, volunteer for and work with a number of conservation organizations, believe in conserving them for their asset to a community and value in preservng species and in assisting stormwater management, and I truly love to ride my bike and walk and just be in the outdoors and would certainly miss the physical activity. But I don't know what I'd do if I had no outdoor places to paint and sketch and photograph en plein air.

I typically write about pets and other animals, but I have also been painting and photographing local landscapes for years, visiting as many trails and natural areas as possible, canoeing Chartiers Creek and studying a mix of local history, ecology, biology and other details of the land. I look forward to also adding the occasional painting or photo to the mix, and I hope it encourages you to visit these places and perhaps to take your camera or art supplies.

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All images and text used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used in any way without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in purchasing one as a print, or to use in a print or internet publication.