The first snow 2019

Alfred Freddy Krupa made this watercolor painting, "The First Snow," using washes of grey and black to evoke a stark winter scene. It feels like the artist was working quickly, trying to capture a fleeting moment, the sensation of the first snowfall. I can almost see Krupa standing there, brush in hand, watching the landscape transform. I wonder if he was thinking about other artists who’ve tried to capture the ephemeral, like the Japanese masters of ink wash painting? The cloudy forms at the top of the painting are especially evocative. They dissolve into the white of the paper, suggesting the way snow softens and blurs the edges of the world. And the lines – look how they vary in thickness and intensity! Some are bold and decisive, others are faint and trembling. It’s like he’s not just painting snow, but also the feeling of cold, the stillness of winter. This piece speaks to how painters build on each other's work through time, and it reminds us of the power of painting to convey not just what we see, but how we feel.