The little mice of Long Lane don’t sleep in the winter like some other animals do. They still go out into the snowy land and look for food or visit each other. They have cozy little homes, deep under ground or inside of great old trees. (please click pictures for clearer view)
“Home Cozy Home”
They like to light candles that cast a warm light and even a little warmth to their small rooms. The flame flickers and the hot wax melting smells good!
Warm candle light flickers on the walls.
They like to have creamy hot cups of cocoa by the fireside waiting on the warm hearth.
Oh what a cozy scene, I can almost smell the wood fire!
Some of the mice have learned how to use snowshoes, finding they don’t sink into the deep snow as easily. Here’s a pair that just came in from the cold!
A trusty pair of snowshoes getting dry by the fire.
Those snowshoes belong to this mouse, he’s taking all his wet layers off by the warm fire.
Little snowshoe mouse getting warm.
First he takes off his snowshoes and sets them by the fire, then he takes off his boots, hat, mittens and scarf. He knows his mom has made hot cocoa for them both to enjoy.
And here’s the whole scene, mouse getting warm by his cozy fire.
I did this watercolor after I was out snowshoeing myself this winter. I like getting out using them, they’re good exercise especially when you’re cooped up indoors. I found it difficult this winter because we had awful flooding around Christmas time and then it all froze. Walking out on the lanes was not a great idea so I didn’t get to go snowshoeing much like this little mouse! 🙁
Maybe it was wishful thinking creating this little sketch? It’s not really big but I like how it came out for a sketch. I have redrawn it on ‘good’ paper and will see if I can paint it again and still keep that freshness I love about a sketch.
I hope you enjoyed it! Hopefully it won’t be long and we’ll be looking at spring blooms instead of snow at Long Lane Farm! 😉
I created some beautiful glossy note cards have a look! (Click the pictures) They would make a cozy winter greeting to send someone. You can put any color you want around the painting.
Green background.
Today I felt like I just had to get out of the house! There was a bit of snow on the ground so before winter weather leaves us completley I decided to go snowshoeing with my dog Ginger. I decided to leave all the colors behind (watercolors, color pencils etc.) and just bring some non permanent ink, micron permanent pens and my waterbrush. I really like sketching with a NON permanent pen because you can create some nice effects with a little water and a brush after. You can rework or redraw on top of it after to add details or more value. The ink I’m using is called Brilliant Brown by Pellican. I put it into an expensive little Rapidograph pen, it has a very fine tip for details. The ink is nice though it gets a bit ‘pinkish’ when you wet it, but I still like it. 
