Painting falling snow

Winter's Song 5x7

I was reading a post by pastel artist Karen Margulis about painting falling snow and I was very anxious to give it a try.  By chiseling chunks of pastel off the stick with an exacto knife and then pressing them in with a palette knife, you can give the impression of falling snow.  I absolutely love this technique! 

This is a scene from my backyard -  I have the most beautiful stream that runs the entire 6 acres, so there are many many photo ops just steps from the back door.  I first painted the scene minus the cardinals, but it was missing something..... color!  I found a reference photo from the Wet Canvas website of some cardinals and popped them right in. Since my yard is usually filled with cardinals, they were a perfect fit.  Then I added the falling snow technique that I just couldn't wait to try and voila!  I'm very happy with the result. A couple of students in my pastel class thought it would make a great Christmas card...hum.....something to think about.