Sheep grazing in the snow

Based on the Moleskine sketch below which I did in January late one bitterly cold afternoon. It was about 4pm and the sun was getting low picking out the trees along the skyline against the pale icy blue sky. At the bottom of the valley at Soundbottom where I stood it was already getting quite dark but the sheep were still busy eating what grass they could find sticking up from the snow. They watched me suspiciously but soon turned their attention back to eating.

The field on the right, which I remember sledging down many years ago, was covered in snow. It contrasted strongly with the woodland which was almost black in comparison. The sheep in the foreground seemed to almost dissolve into the snow-covered field.

At the time the valley was in deep shadow and the view in front of me was almost in black & white so in this development study I decided to stick with a monochrome rendering and concentrate on the richness of tones and textures. Once again I opted for red chalk pastel on a heavyweight watercolour paper which I could really work into. But there are possibilities in colour which I would like to explore at a later date in a painting.