I love painting snow - most artists do! Whenever there is a fall of snow I will be out there with easel and paints. After a few days of heavy snow I visited my local nature reserve and this fairly ordinary stand of birch trees was transformed into something extraordinary. Snow is never truly white as it reflects the colours around it and I was captivated by the range of hues it presented me. The low sun cast long shadows that reflected the blue of a clear, winter sky. The warm colours of the birch trees were echoed in soft greys and browns of the sunlit surface of the snow.

Tracks in the snow are a clue to the identity of animals that have passed through. Most small animals face a struggle to survive cold winter conditions, and small rodents feed in runs they create under the snow. Stoats follow these runs to find prey and I imagined this one ploughing through the snow, listening for voles.