Snowscape Painting in Saanen and Gstaad

The joys of plein air painting.

The Joys of plein air painting.

Having grown up in the tropics and then in Southern California, I have always been fascinated by snow. Here in Tuscany winters are also rather gray, so every year I try to get some plein air painting done in the snow. Luckily I’m just a short drive away from some of the most picturesque Alpine scenes in the world.

This week I was offered the use of a Chalet in the small village of Saanen, just outside of Gstaad in Switzerland in exchange for one of the sketches and I jumped at the chance. Gstaad itself isn’t very paintable, but the neighboring villages, Saanen, Gsteig, Lauenen, and Rougemont are all very beautiful.

The village of Saanen.

The village of Saanen.

An old friend, Calyxte Campe, happened to be painting there at the same time (and had already done extensive scouting, conveniently for me), so the two of us painted together for the week.

Calyxte and I above Rougemont.

Calyxte and I above Rougemont.

Painting plein air in the snow can actually be quite comfortable. On the days when it was really cold I tried the ‘Hibbard Mitten’ (thanks Darren!), which is basically a large knit sock on your painting hand which you poke your brush into. This way you can hold the brush with your bare hand inside the sock. It takes some getting used to holding the brush so far back on the handle, but you have much better control than trying to paint with a glove. I also used those little hand-warmer packets under my toes in my shoes.

Here are a few of the sketches.

Barn at Lauenen. 25 x 35 cm, oil on board.

Barn at Lauenen. 25 x 35 cm, oil on board.

Farm above Rougemont. 25 x 35 cm, oil on board.

Farm above Rougemont. 25 x 35 cm, oil on board.

Plein air Alpine landscape painting

Barn at Rougemont. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Zermatt

Alba and I were in Zermatt for a wedding this weekend. I had forgotten how beautiful Switzerland can be in the summers. We had great weather and I managed to bat out a couple of sketches in between the festivities.

I enlarged one of the sketches in the studio:

Edelweiss Huts, Zermatt. 70 x 100 cm, oil on linen, 2008

Edelweiss Huts, Zermatt. 70 x 100 cm, oil on linen, 2008

We also passed over the Simplon pass twice on our trip where Sargent painted in the summer of 1911 (?). Its still a very beautiful stretch of road. Most of the traffic into Switzerland goes through the tunnels now and not over the passes, so it has this wonderful abandoned feel to it. Every few miles the scenery changes dramatically as well so you have a huge choice of subjects to paint from. Next time…