I love painting birches in winter. Any color that they may have from scrapes or peeling bark really pops against the white. I was hoping to capture the feel of the cold air in my painting. Hopefully getting the viewer to feel the chill. When I am matting and framing a painting I will use painters tape to keep the piece a 1/4″ smaller all around. I do this so that you see the entire work, I don’t like to have anything cut off by the mat.
 
