Winter Painting

There is nothing temperate about where I live. In the winter it gets bitter cold, and the summer scalding hot. The nice thing is that with the new seasons, there are always new and fresh colors and impressions to paint. The trick is surviving the conditions in order to capture it. When people see me out painting, everyone asks, "Doesn't the paint freeze?" Answer: oil paint does not freeze, it might get a tiny bit more stiff, but never freezes. (Oil paint also never dries in the cold--one winter I stored my wet paintings in the garage, I was surprised that I got a handful of wet paint in spring when I moved a painting that had been painted the previous fall! I sometimes use this to my advantage and store paintings that I want to work on later in my freezer.)

When I dress to go painting, I often repeat a Norwegian phrase that a friend shared with me: "There's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes." The key to plein air painting in winter is clothing/equipment since you can't move around to stay warm. There are plenty of choices for warm gear out there, but they can be pricey! I'm always on the lookout for affordable warm painting clothes. Currently I have the gear to paint comfortably in 20 F (windchill) weather for 4-5 hours at a time without getting chilled. If I stay out too long or if I'm out when the temperature or wind is below 20F, I have to take a break every so often to warm up with hot tea from a thermos or sit in the car with the heater blasting. When I get home, I need a long hot bath before the chill leaves my bones.

My personal philosophy is that God created animals with the technology to stay warm all winter. If I can find ways to harness that technology, I stand a better chance of staying warm. That's why I choose natural fibers whenever possible. Here are layers I currently put on to go out winter painting:

-100% silk long underwear (found on clearance at Land's End)

-A normal layer of clothes (pants and shirt) in case I need to go in public when I finish painting.

-100% wool scarf (an unusually soft woven wool that isn't scratchy. I found it in Scotland for cheap...made the whole trip worth it!)

-Some flannel lined canvas Carrhart overalls. An estate sale find. (Super warm and durable, but I have been mistaken as a construction worker before.)

-A bright red down coat that was my good one until the zipper busted. The buttons still work fine. Down is my favorite insulation for maintaining warmth at all different temperatures, as long as it doesn't get wet.

-The newest addition to my uniform is a rabbit fur cap that I found at a local hat/glove outlet store. I am myself an animal-lover. However, I do eat meat, and use leather products. Fur can't be beat for softness and warmth, especially around the ears.

But keeping the body warm is the easy part. The trickiest part of winter plein air painting is keeping your hands and feet warm. Feet are hard, because you have to stand on snow or other cold ground and the cold seeps right up through the boots. I now use my son's huge boots that he outgrew so that they have plenty of space inside. I put an additional 100% alpaca wool liner in the bottom in addition to the boot liner. Then I wear a thin pair of 100% wool socks inside, with self-adhesive toe warmers ($14/carton of 40 at Costco). Then I cover over with a pair of really thick 100% wool or alpaca super socks. By the time I get all that on, the boots actually fit on the inside, but are still tanks on the outside.

For gloves, I've tried a bunch of stuff, but keep going back to thinsulate lined goatskin gloves. Goatskin is relatively thin leather that lets you have some feeling, yet it's durable. The thinsulate offers some measure of warmth, but I think it would be warmer if it were a natural insulation. I found my pair at a hardware store in Amery, WI for $12. I had to stitch the thumb down a bit to fit the length of my hand. I hold an air-activated hand warmer in each palm inside the glove to compensate for the poor quality of insulation and also because I sometimes take my hand in and out of the gloves if I need to do something very delicate. My goatskin gloves have seen a lot of paint from 2 seasons of winter painting, but wipe off relatively well. Here's a photo of them in all their glory:

Winter has a beauty all its own. It's a lot of extra hassle to assemble the needed warm gear, but it's very possible and absolutely worth it!