'In The Bleak Midwinter'

A recent composition. I took the title from the carol, of course, but the days I had in mind were more the ones immediately after Christmas. When families feel they should do something healthy together, like go for a walk in nearby woods, but the weather's so foul they don't last more than half an hour. Though these days are usually dark and drizzly, I chose fog here because it's more aesthetically pleasing. I made the fog with several cloud models, arranged in layers to create the effect of objects disappearing into the mist. That's worked quite well, and you can't go wrong with bare, ominous branches. But the landscape overall doesn't look very convincing, despite considerable effort. The contrast of the happy, scampering child also isn't as startling as I hoped.