If You’re Still Cold, It Counts [series], February 2026

These paintings are an immediate response to walking through a Canadian woodland in winter. It was far too cold to paint outside, so I painted indoors as soon as we got back, painting fast to keep the connection alive.

I think if you are still cold that counts, and so the name of the series is also a reference to my practice, which is paint from life. I’m bending the rules.

The paintings respond to the striped light of bright winter sun slicing through the trees. Each one is oriented differently.

They are all dominated by long shadows cutting across the snow in blues and whites, under painted with vivid grounds that push through at the edges.

What I wanted to capture was not the prettiness of the snow in the woods but the shock of the light and the way it hits you. The geometry it makes when it is that sharp against the trees.

The grounds keep the tension alive and stop the blue and white from becoming peaceful.

Acrylic on stone paper, 29 × 21 cm and 21 × 29 cm

You’re Still Cold It Counts I (orange ground) is in the Society of Women Artists Annual Show, 2026.