Early for Christmas ? by Sharon Van Der Veen

You never know we may get this yet :o( I love this atmospheric painting, beautifully painted sheep with the misty shepherd in the background. The granulation/ brushmarks serves very well as the snow storm. Fantastic card but would definitely frame this Sharon.

Thanks for your kind comments against my Mother and Child - I love your style which is also quite minimalist - my three favourites in your gallery so far: this one, the sheep and the hortensia.

Spectacular snow scene Sharon! The swirl of snow and blizzard like conditions are done to perfection with your use of watercolour. Love your sheep too.

Beautiful and atmospheric, Brilliant.

Superb painting Sharon, I would love to know what gave you the inspiration to creat the blizzard atmosphere. For me it has been executed with masterful precision, starting from the detailed leading sheep and drawing you back along the fading herd and shepherd, around and over with the swirling storm and then being drawn back out along the edge row, making me want to start again. This together with the beautiful brush work, for me makes it a stunning picture. Far to good for a Christmas card, would certainly go into limited edition prints.

Thank you all for taking a look and all your comments. I thought it was a great composition too, Peter, but can’t claim it as my own – I based it on a 19th century oil painting I admired and I “translated” it into watercolour to send to my family next Christmas. I do think the subject suits the medium : the granulating ultramarine mix created the ideal blizzard, and I’ve started sketching a few new compositions based on a snowstorm to see how far I can take this. Only 10 months till Christmas – hope I’ll be done by then!

Beautiful atmosphere.