Snowy Cedars Inspiration

My Snowy Cedars painting was inspired by this photo on the right. The photo is not very colorful and really lacks depth as well. If you can sketch or paint outdoors you will see all the colours in the shadows and on the snow. The snow is never a pure white. It has all the reflections from the sky, trees, and water playing on the surface. I did a small quick sketch of this scene on site and later developed this painting in studio on the left. I only use photo's as a reference.