How to Paint the Colours of Snow in Oil Colour

Capturing the Hues of a Sunlit Snowy Scene in a Painting

Aug 1, 2009

Until one tries to paint snow, the assumption might be that lots of white is necessary, but this is not always the case in real life as this demonstration proves.

Attempting a painting of snow will often feel like noticing it for the first time. The colours presented are often not what one would expect. Far from being white, snow can be crimson, blue, violet or even green. Quite often, a snow scene requires only a little white.

What Colour is Snow

When capturing snow, it is important to use sensitive observation. Too often, if the eyes don’t believe what they are seeing, the artist will strive to paint what they think they see, and the resultant painting will not look authentic. If blues and oranges can be seen in the snow, even in trace amounts, record these colours accurately.

The Art Materials Required

What is Oil Sketching Paper

Oil sketching paper is a specially treated paper with a textured surface, some replicating canvas. It is usually sold in pads of 12 in various sizes. Using oil sketching paper is a cheap way of practicing oil paints if a quick oil sketch is desired. It might be wise to detach a page from the pad before painting on it, to avoid the underlying pages getting soiled.

Step by Step Demonstration on Painting a Wintry Scene

The drawing had been carefully sketched out onto oil sketching paper using a soft pencil. The palest areas of the snow were painted in first with a thin sable. This consisted of titanium with varying amounts of pthalo blue and a touch of permanent rose (fig 1).

Painting the Trees

A little more pthalo blue and a touch of burnt umber were used for the darker areas of snow, particularly around the tree branches on the foreground. As can be seen, painting a pale colour onto a white surface can be off putting, but the tonal key of the painting can be adjusted once the rest of the colours have been blocked in (fig 2)

An Impressionist Snow Scene

The dark areas of the branches and the shrubbery were sketched in next by using a mixture of burnt umber and pthalo blue. Painting the dark colours after the paler colours as opposed to the other way round prevents the paler colours getting dirtied by a neighbouring dark colour (fig 3)

A Wintry Sky

The cool colours of the snow in shadow contrasts with the sunlit areas of snow, which consisted of permanent rose, lemon yellow and white. The resultant two complimentary colours gives the painting interesting contrasts (fig 4).

Portraying the Colours of Snow

As can be seen, many colours can be found in snow: blues, violets, reds and even crimsons. Very little pure white has been used. With close observation regardless of how unbelievable the colours might be, if they can be perceived, recording them will result in an authentic feel to the snow scene.

The copyright of the article How to Paint the Colours of Snow in Oil Colour in Landscape Painting is owned by Rachel Wills. Permission to republish How to Paint the Colours of Snow in Oil Colour in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.