Snowbound painting, and insight about painting edges

Posting yesterday's snowbound memory painting... with an attempt to balance the expanse of white and tiny yellow sunset line with the grasses in the foreground, in a looser approach.

Quick little snowscape study, heading towards a looser representation.

And some wisdom from Montana artist Carolyn Anderson (http://carolynanderson.com), who creates expressive, loose, impressionistic oil painting with great economy of stroke. She has a lot to say about impressionism, edges, and the craft of painting:

"Realist painting comes with its own set of parameters and craft can certainly be one of them. But I have yet to agree that craft alone will make a great painting. Craft without creativity is only part of the equation. When we make judgments about what is acceptable, or not, what is good, or not, and what “realism” is, or is not, we end up narrowing the possibilities of what our paintings can be.  Painting is about learning to see  - and hopefully, sharing how we see and what is visually important to us with others. We share a responsibility to interpret, not to try and re-create. We need to be open to the adventure of exploring, visual information. If we accept that what we paint can never be “real”, then we should be able to take our “reality” and see it in new and interesting ways.

[And regarding edges of things] In painting edges are the transition between shapes, values, and color. They help to define or diminish form. Used creatively, edges in painting are areas of translation – allowing one area to become another. Everything is connected to everything else. A favorite book states, “how the pieces are connected to each other is at least as important as what the pieces are." As an artist, you question the reality of what you are seeing. Instead of going in and drawing that shape as an outline, you draw where you see an edge. A lot of people are taught to start with the  outline. I'm saying that the outline is not a reality. You start with what catches your eye, which has a lot to do with the quality of the light."