Winter Garden â“’ 2013 Michaela Harlow – Oil on Panel, 24″ x 24″

Winter is a beautiful season, to be certain. Snow, sleet and freezing rain add texture and sparkle to the skeletal landscape and garden surrounding my studio. I love the play of pale light as it bounces off ice and streams through the tawny blades of bleached grass and bare, twisted twigs. And yet for all of its wonder, winter is also a very difficult season here.

Living in New England during the winter months of January, February and March involves an extraordinary amount of work; particularly if you live atop a windy, 2,000′ ridge in the middle of a forest. Since Nemo, aka the blizzard of ’13, hit —bringing with it 18″ of new snow— my days have been consumed by shoveling, plowing, and moving snow banks with the tractor. These are necessary chores, of course, but terribly disrupting to my work; throwing off my rhythm and interrupting my painting’s progress and blog-posting schedule.

But here I am again, at last. It feels good to get back to work on something substantial.