Winter on the Avenue( Detail)

(C) 2015 Dale DiMauro

Recently, I started this watercolor of a very local building in our neighborhood. This is one of those corner stores that offers basic staples such as milk, newspapers, and Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Clearly, some of the things they offer aren't really necessities. Also, the building is not actually on a corner.

I had not painted a building in a couple of months. I like the light behind this structure, which really amplifies the complementary colors of blue and yellow. There is a lot of temperature in this painting from the pavement to the snow, shadows, distant hills, and sky.

If you live in Vermont, as I do, you have to embrace the piles of snow everywhere because they are not going away until late April or perhaps even May. Within those piles of snow are a fascinating range of color. Recently, I have been using cobalt, ultramarine, raw umber, and Payne's gray to express the warmth and coolness of the snow I experience.