Winter Rabbit

I tried to stay with big paint strokes, but that didn't translate well for a 5" x 7" painting.  Also, I was not sure how to approach two problems, both dealing with the background:

• How to "ground" the rabbit.
• How to get the snow to have the right feeling.  I took this picture last year in my back yard.  It was very cold and I wanted how cold it felt to come through. The white of my snow looks too warm to me. 

This was a fun composition to work on and I might try several more versions, but as 8" x 10" paintings. I didn't think about it until I was done, but you could almost approach this like a negative space tree, since there are so many nooks and crannies as a result of the raspberry canes.  

#294 - Winter Rabbit in Raspberry Canes - 5" x 7" - paper

This is the source photo. I cropped it differently for the painting. 

I must try to get my values more accurate the next time.