city at night

city at night

Tuesday, December 14, 2021

The Christmas Card

Earlier this week I chatted on Skype with some relatives in Switzerland, and they reported that they had received my Christmas card.  I always do an original painting for the card, and the subject of the painting is always a secret until they have been received.  I think it is safe to assume that the cards have all been delivered, and I can now share the painting with you here on the blog.  


The paintings that I create for my Christmas cards are usually based on photographs I have taken while on my travels.  However, with the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, I went for thirteen months without traveling.  My painting reflects that reality with a scene from only a few miles away from home.

Many times, I have taken a photo during a summer trip, and then used my imagination to convert the scene into a winter landscape.  Although I have never been to Europe in the winter, I have done paintings of a snowy Norwegian fjord, a Swiss lake and a French village.  For this painting, however, I did not need to use my imagination. 

On Christmas morning of last year, I woke up to find that we had a heavy snow during the night.  It was the first white Christmas that we had had in a number of years.  I got dressed, grabbed my camera, and went out in the car.  Driving the short distance was a bit tricky on the snowy roads, but I made it to a park in the center of my hometown of Olmsted Falls.  There is a pedestrian covered bridge which crosses Plum Creek.  From that bridge I took the photo which is the basis for this painting.  When I looked at the photo, I said to myself, "Even if I am able to travel in 2021, this will be my Christmas card for next year."

 

Best wishes to all of my readers for a very happy holiday season!


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