Melting, March

In February and March shadows on snow take on a particular shade of blue-purple that they say used to be the way people would know it was time to start sugaring. I don’t know if that’s true but the color is unique and very beautiful; begging to be painted but it’s usually too cold. I grabbed the chance one sunny afternoon in March, so warm that the snow retreated substantially over the 900 or so minutes it took to paint. This pretty clump of trees is on Ives Road, one I love because it’s unpaved and unlit and lined on both sides with both old and young maples; it’s a quiet and peaceful little road that can give you a feeling of time travel, if you want.