Snow in a winter wood

Today, the first snow fell in Cambridge, and that seems a good day to post a picture of winter in Russia.  I saw this painting back in November at the Turbulent Calm exhibition.

We look into a wooded landscape in winter.  The world is covered in snow.  The snow is pastel blue and pinkish and grey, with butter-white highlights where the sun hits it.  Three pine trees droop with the snow's heaviness, and leafless shrubs straggle through the snow.  A creek forms a dark.diagonal.  The shaded foreground contrasts with the brighter sky and the sunlit glade in the background.

No human being is present here, only us in front of the scene.  The atmosphere is  hushed and tranquil.  The brush strokes (when you look closely) seem almost unfinished and sketchy; they are as thick and woolly as the snow itself.

Detail.

I know nothing about the painter (Alexei Urvanov); he has no web presence.  But there was his painting, all the way from Russia to visit us in Cambridge for a day or two.

The winter painting hangs at right, on the bottom.

I spent quite some time meandering about the show.  It was on for only one day and in such an unusual location (a modern office space).  There were quite a few landscapes -- two snowy ones and also beach scenes, meadows in spring, a river bank -- plus some still lifes and a few figure groups.

Can't you just hear the brook gurgle and the snow thud softly from the branches?


What:  Winter Stream in the Forest, by Alexei Urvanov.  60 x 80 cm.
Where:  Turbulent Calm exhibition, ArtSpace 57, 11 Nov. 2012

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