Hyder Park Nocturne

I’ve taken an interest in painting nocturnes, moments with muted skies or, in this case, at night, in the middle of an intense snowstorm. That particularly February day the afternoon turned very cold and began to snow soon after, snowing for over four hours straight, an unusual event for New Mexico. I think the cold and late hour drove others inside, as I had the streets to myself, including along a local park. There I had the pleasure of seeing snow highlighted briefly in the straight beam of light from a street lamp on one corner of the park. If ever there was a time, as I wander, for spirits and ghosts to visit, this was it. My process is to employ pan pastels for an underpainting, setting the values and the mood before moving on to soft pastels.