Happy Saturnalia! Bright Solstice! Merry Yule! It’s a very busy time of year for me, as always, so I haven’t had much time to post. I was doing so well there for a while! By now this painting has been published, so it’s safe for me to share. Above is a commissioned watercolor of the Boston Skyline I made for a financial institution’s winter e-greeting campaign. I started with photographic reference of Boston over the Charles River in the summertime, and sketched a winterized version with idealized trees, decor, ice, and that big red sleigh. Dreamy, nostalgic, cold Christmas time in Boston. I added the snowflakes in photoshop because no one has time to mask off all those little dots.
I grew up outside of Boston, and one thing that always sticks with me about winter in New England is that gray sky when it’s about to snow. A heavy gray, not quite angry, but thick and stifling. It’s like the world’s more unpleasant blanket, but it’s still a blanket, so it’s still sort of nice. Winter. It’s very long, cold, dry, and dark. So before the hellscape that is February rolls in, I hope your winter holiday at least is filled with warm fire, libations, and lights.
