Tag Archives: winter paintings

Winter mood

7 Replies

Above: November II. Oil on 12 by 9 inch wood panel.

These are three little winter studies of interiors, a temporary change of scene from landscapes (details below also showing frames)

These will be on exhibition at The Lime Tree Gallery, Bristol from November 8th 2025. (Please contact the gallery with any enquiries)

I like this sort of painting as we go into winter – the darker palette and jewel-like colours lend themselves to winter light. and are quite meditative to paint.

October used to make me feel a bit trepiditious about the dark of coming winter, until I became fascinated by Medieval philosophy through reading books by C.S. Lewis and Michael Ward (Planet Narnia). Medieval philosophers believed seasons were ‘influenced’ by planets, so the dark months of winter corrrespond to Saturn: learning, time, authority, death, introspection – quite a heavy little collection of influences there, but I find when you embrace this time of year with a book next to the fireplace and a contemplative mind (maybe a little whisky too!) it’s all good.

'Wolf'. Mixed media on 12x12 inch canvas. Rose Strang 2019 board

Winter Landscapes: Exhibition

Leave a reply

'Giant Snowballs'. Mixed media on 12x12 inch canvas. Rose Strang 2019 board

‘Giant Snowballs’. Mixed media on 12×12 inch canvas. Rose Strang 2019. Unframed £290

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The two paintings above will be on exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, from 22nd December to 30th January 2020.

This is part of the annual Open Exhibition organised by the Society of Scottish Artists (SSA), who accepted me as a professional member in 2018. All details about tickets and venue Here

‘Giant Snowballs’ was inspired by snow sculptures on Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh and ‘Wolf’ was inspired by watching the Seven Worlds series narrated by David Attenborough – the wolves were viewed through heat sensitive cameras, adding to their mystical presence – they looked primeval and otherworldly. I made a quick sketch in paint on canvas while watching, then surrounded it in thick layers of white gesso.

The exhibition launches 22nd December, all details on link above.

 

SSA Open 2019

Leave a reply

'Wolf'. Mixed media on 12x12 inch canvas. Rose Strang 2019 board

‘Wolf’. Mixed media on 12×12 inch canvas. Rose Strang 2019

'Giant Snowballs'. Mixed media on 12x12 inch canvas. Rose Strang 2019 board

‘Giant Snowballs’. Mixed media on 12×12 inch canvas. Rose Strang 2019

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above, my two paintings, on a winter theme, available for sale at the SSA  (Society of Scottish Artists) Open Exhibition, which launches 22nd December and ends 30th January 2020. Venue – the Royal Scottish Academy on the Mound, Princes Street, Edinburgh.

I’ve been a member of the SSA for many years, and was delighted to be accepted as a professional member last year.

You can buy tickets for the exhibition (just £3) on their website Here

It’s a huge exhibition, featuring the work of artists living in Scotland as well as international artists, always innovative and well worth a visit!

Winter Miniatures in progress …

Leave a reply

Above – walking through city snow (I hope that’s what it looks like!)

Below – today’s paintings for the Winter Miniatures exhibition and open studio day, which launches Sunday 8th December 2pm.

All details Here

I took photos of these in electric light, so it doesn’t show colours quite accurately. Winter evenings are such a pain for painting and photography! I’ll be uploading them in higher quality tomorrow.

Winter Miniatures – 8th December

Leave a reply

‘Winter Miniatures. Last Leaves’. Mixed media on 3×3″ wood. Rose Strang 2019

‘Winter Miniatures. Indigo Sky’. Mixed media on 3×3″ wood. Rose Strang 2019

My new series; Winter Miniatures, launches on December 8th next month.

For this series I’m painting around 40 semi-abstract pieces on wood, inspired by the textures and colours of winter.

All info about the exhibition Here

Winter Series video – music and images

1 Reply

I finished a first edit of the Winter Series video yesterday, so for those of you who haven’t yet heard the music that inspired the paintings, here it is!

 

 

 

Winter Series – post 7

Leave a reply

Today’s paintings – ‘Home, Moonlight’ and ‘Skating’, for the Winter Series. Exhibition opens in just five days – all info Here

I’m almost there with ‘Sea, Storm’ below, which needs a bit more work, but all completed paintings are now in the ‘Artworks’ gallery. I altered ‘Red Velvet Dancing’ a little (also below)- taking out the second figure and adding some more impasto highlights to the dress to show reflected firelight.

 

 

 

 

So that’s now just two paintings to finish, then the series is complete! Atzi has also tweaked the short music pieces to his liking, as mentioned each painting comes with a CD of all 12 music pieces.

‘Sombre Constellations’ has already sold, to a former buyer and friend in Australia, it’s a great home for the painting to go to, not just because Linda Cairnes is a talented painter herself, but because I think ‘Sombre Constellations’ perhaps has something of the Aboriginal ‘dreaming’ to it! All completed paintings viewable on ‘Artworks’ in menu above.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the paintings, the exhibition, or would like to buy a painting or print – rose.strang@gmail.com

Winter series – post 6

2 Replies

‘Winter 2’. Mixed media on 10×10″ wood panel. £150

‘Winter 1’. Mixed media on 10×10″ wood panel. £150

‘Winter 8’. Mixed media on 10×10″ wood panel. £150

A definite feeling of progress at last …

Above are the latest pieces for the upcoming Winter Series exhibition (info Here) which is opens in just 9 days!

As mentioned in a previous post, the challenge of this series is that I’m trying something new; responding to twelve two-minute pieces created for this project by composer and cellist Atzi Muramatsu, but also I’m finding it a challenge because each piece of music is entirely distinct, so with each painting I’m exploring a new theme as opposed to variations on one subject.

With nine days to go, and half the works finished, I’m finally getting into the swing of things. It was particularly enjoyable to paint the figure dancing in red velvet by firelight, this one ‘painted itself’ as they say. That’s partly because I took photos of myself in a red velvet dress for reference. That’s much easier because the proces is mimetic. The first thing you learn as an artist is to copy. It’s much more challenging to create something abstract and from imagination.

A couple of photos the painting in progress (I might take out the smaller figure, or make it recede a bit more).

 

 

 

‘Winter 1’, in response to the first piece of music, was quite difficult. The music itself felt like a meandering descent, and at the same time very cold with a sense of space. I  tried several epic-style paintings looking from a height down to a frozen valley but they just didn’t work. This descending waterfall, which leads the eye down to a ship frozen in ice, seems to fit the mood.

The running snow hare was the immediate image that sprung to mind when listening to one of the  pieces where the cello style is speedy, scratchy, scittering and staccato (to use a musical term!) also springing, just to add another word starting with ‘s’.

Below is the ground-work for a portrait of Atzi playing cello, in response to a Baroque-style cello piece. This monochrome sketch onto grey ground is a very traditional approach – I wanted to try a traditional technique so it feels in keeping with the 17th century music style. I’ll gradually build up more complex tones, then overlay with colour glazes, followed by some impasto highlights.

 

 

 

 

I feel I’ve earned a short break now, so I’ll spend the rest of the day relaxing before the Edinburgh Art Fair preview which launches this evening. I have four works in the show, hosted by the Limetree Gallery (at Stand D11). All info Here

Winter Series – day 4

2 Replies

New paintings for the winter series from today above. The two small black paintings were in response to a sombre piece by Atzi. More info about the Winter Series project Here.

 

 

Below, some more work on the previous paintings …

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winter Series – day 2

Leave a reply

Two works in progress (right) today for the Winter Series which launches on 25th November.

This project is a collaboration between myself and composer/cellist Atzi Muramatsu, who’s creating twelve two-minute pieces for cello on the theme of winter. I’m responding to each piece with a painting.

I decided to make two paintings in response to the first piece of music, just to see which works best! I can always paint over the one I’m not keen on. At the moment the one above on the left is working more for me, or at least it reflects the mood of the first piece of music more.

While listening to it for the first time I immediately felt space, height and distance. The mood is sombre yet soft – very still. There’s the sense of cascading, or gliding downwards, maybe looking downwards from a great height, either as a bird or a human.

Bear in mind I don’t know what Atzi has in mind other than winter, since we agreed he wouldn’t reveal his ideas until after the exhibition – it should be fun seeing how the paintings corrrespond to his ideas behind the music!

While painting today (which was a pleasure in my new studio space – more room, better light) I had the two-minute piece of music on a loop so I’m very familiar with it now. There’s a moment that feels as though it’s going to melt into something warmer, which reminded me of one of my favourite bits from Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, by Vaughan Williams, so I tried to suggest that hint of warmth and gentleness, though overall the music is very still, wintry, with a feel of introspection and solitude.

I appreciate music, but my knowledge of musical terms is patchy – I must remedy this by asking Atzi and other musician friends more questions!

More of the new series on Monday …