You can tell by the glare that winter is in full spate here. January is the half way mark. We have about 2 feet of snow now in the back yard. The sun is out today, and my windows in my little studio face north and west. The easel is in the corner, so have lots of reflections going on.

I am just finishing up this 11 x 14 of poppies. It is in the 'contemplation phase' now, where I let it sit in various places to see if there is anything I want to touch up. I recently finished another floral of the University of Saskatchewan's Centennial lily. The upcoming Gardenscape show has me in flower mode these days. Plus it is fun to play with all the colours when the view out the window is fairly monochromatic for months on end.

I really admire the American painter, Stapleton Kearns, who paints en plein aire in winter. He has been holding his annual winter workshops again. There is no way I could do that - not as cold tolerant even with all the gear. But it is interesting to see how he does it. It would be interesting to take advantage of the 5 - 6 months of winter we get here and use the landscape to paint in. However, I will never be a polar bear, even after living on the prairies for getting close to 40 years. So for those who like to get out and paint, regardless of weather, he has lots of great ideas.

Me, I'll sit in my little room, space heater on by my feet (it is the coldest room in the house, facing the prevailing winds and had 5 windows), and enjoy the photos of my garden I took in the summer, and paint colours.