Walter Launt Palmer (1854–1932)

Stream in Winter depicts a small, icy stream cutting through a snow-covered field in the country. Small, leafless deciduous trees growing up around the stream indicate its course in the middle ground. A lone tree towers over them on the right, and a stand of pines rises is visible over the ridge in the left distance. Long a master in watercolor and gouache, Palmer deftly modeled the snow with white highlights, subtle pink middle tones, and blue shadows. He tinted the trunks and branches of the trees pink to suggest their glowing appearance in the bright sunlight, and he sparingly used orange highlights to make them sparkle.