It is winter time here in Kansas City, and that has me thinking about one of my favorite watercolor subjects - snow!

Winter isn't always thought of as a beautiful season with it's slush, sludge, and harsh conditions, but if you pay attention, there is so much beauty to take in - and an infinite amount of inspiration for watercolor artists!

Paint Beautiful Snow Scenes: Avoid these Common Mistakes 

Painting a snow scene in watercolor can be tricky, though. I see a lot of the same mistakes made when students first choose a winter scene as their watercolor subject.

So, today I am going to cover three of the most common missteps I see in winter watercolor paintings. 

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1. Avoid Painting Snow White.

The first mistake I see in winter watercolor scenes is the artist paints their snow white.

You might think, well, snow is white, so why wouldn't we paint it white?

But an interesting thing happens with snow - something that you'll notice with water too - it reflects the colors and the light around it.

Take a minute to examine these photographs of snow and identify the cool colors, the warm colors, the texture, and the variation in the snow depending upon the environment we find it in. It has to do with the light, the colors it's reflecting, the terrain underneath it, and the condition of the snow. All of this can influence the colors you perceive in the snow, and should be a part of your consideration as you paint a winter watercolor scene.

In this scene, I'm using a little bit of Lavender mixed with Rose Madder Permanent, and a little bit of Raw Sienna. I am letting these colors mix and blend to create an organic, vibrant feeling of snow. 

So before you paint a winter scene, do your due diligence and really focus on the colors you see in the snow. You'll see some warm colors, some cool colors. It really does take on and reflect the color temperature that is around it. We want to be mindful of this in our snow paintings so that we don't leave all the snow as the white of the paper.

2. Do Not Paint the Sky as Lightly as You Might in Other Paintings.

The second problem I see in snow scenes is not painting the sky dark enough.

In many of scenes that we paint, the sky is one of the lightest areas of our painting. But when you are painting snow scenes, the sky is a darker value than the snow and can sometimes even land in your middle values rather than your lights.

So if we can keep this in mind and paint the sky as dark as it needs to be, we are really going to create that feeling of light shining off of the snow.

So often, that feeling is missing when people are painting snow and not using the correct values. Most of the time we are going to be painting that snow color in our first wash and then we are coming back in after it is dry and painting a dark, richer sky around the areas that have snow on them. After that, we're coming back in with some darks. And if you can follow this method, you are will create a strong, vibrant feeling of light in your snow scenes.

3. Be Careful Not to Create Too Many Hard Edges.

The third problem I notice in a lot of watercolor snow scenes is that there are too many hard edges.

What makes snow so gorgeous is its soft, gentle edges - the way it can soften and mute everything a bit. And watercolor is the perfect medium to depict this! Take advantage of painting wet into wet to achieve those soft edges that make snow so beautiful!

In your first wash of your winter watercolor painting, let the colors blend and merge on the paper. You can even create some soft shadows with a bit of a darker value if you want. This can be a really a nice touch. 

Related Blogs

Creating Depth and Realism: Essential Strategies for Watercolor Landscape Artists

Painting Winter Light in Watercolor 

Common Watercolor Mistakes to Avoid