5K Christian Valley (2021)

Ravens

Acrylic on canvas

30” x 36”

I wanted to paint another winter scene on a large canvas. Even though it seems like there is not a lot of color in winter, my pallet had around seven colours on it most days. To get the warmth of the sun conveyed, I used warm yellows with a bit of warm browns to contrast the cool whites and greys of the earth. I “warmed up” the clouds to tie the sky and earth together. I wanted to capture to frigid winter but also the warmth of the sun on those days when it breaks through the clouds.

Riding the wind currents after a snowfall, ravens never cease to amaze me in their avian abilities. They always look like they are having fun, no matter the day. Sometimes if you look up into the sky above the valley, there will be a column of the black birds in a current of warm air soaring, dipping, flipping, looping and just flying to enjoy the simplicity of being a bird. This view is directly above my house looking south. The mountain on the opposite side was ravaged by fire six years before I hiked up here to take this photo. Five kilometres from the moth of the Christian Valley. The Kettle River snakes silently down the valley through farmland of cattle and hay fields. The low and watery winter sun is the only bit of colour in an otherwise nearly black and white landscape that dominates three months of winter before that bright budding green begins on the cottonwood and aspens trees along the valley floor.