Snow Day in Seattle

Japanese Tea Garden Gate on a Snowy Day in Seattle

It is frigidly cold, snowy but bright.  Of course when we get snow in Seattle,  everything basically shuts down.  With all the hills around here very few attempt their normal routine.  So this was my snow day...I took a walk to the Arboreteum Japanese Tea Garden thinking it would be open to see it in snow...but of course it was closed!  I decided to paint the entry anyway.  Tricky painting snow.  Basically you leave it white and paint the blue shadows...but you have to have the right blue.  I wasn't too happy with the blue I chose.  What was interesting was doing water color when the temperature is below freezing.  The watercolor would ice up as soon as I laid it down on the paper.  So I literally had a glaze.  When I tried to lay it down a second time without dipping the brush in water, the brush would get stiff.