Cottages with Overhanging Boughs is an atmospheric painting by Victoria Crowe (b. 1945) depicting a snowy landscape with trees and a cottage on the right side. Crowe uses a limited range of colour in this piece, with the majority in shades of white to capture the wintry scene. The trees are dark brown and black, with thin, curving strokes of paint for their branches and a build up of white paint over these to show where snow has caught on them. Crowe uses thick layers of paint throughout the piece to create textures that add to the illusion of depth, with these layers showing the snow banks and the lines where her brush cut threw the white with darker grey to show tracks in the snow. The brown and red of the cottage contrasts the darker trees, creating a warmth that Crowe adds to by using yellow in the windows and in the looseness of the background to create a glow where structures are. These details create the warm atmosphere in this otherwise cold and snowy scene.

It is possible this piece reflects the landscape of Kittleyknowe, near where Crowe lived from 1970-1990 and was a subject of much of her landscape work throughout that time period. Crowe was well known for capturing the atmosphere present in the countryside through her quiet scenes and warm tones of colour against an overall colder, muted landscape.  

Victoria Crowe OBE ARSA RSW FRSE, born 1945

Born in Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, Crowe studied from 1961 to 1965 at Kingston School of Art and the Royal College of Art in London. She has lived in Scotland since 1968, when Sir Robin Philipson invited her to become a part-time lecturer at Edinburgh College of Art, where she has taught ever since. She lives in the Borders with her artist husband, Mike Walton. A painter of still lifes, interiors and landscapes, she is also an accomplished portrait painter. Among her sitters have been the Earls of Wemyss and March, Tam Dalyell MP, Tom Morgan, Lord Provost of Edinburgh, and Tom Johnston, Principal of Heriot-Watt University.
Crowe's work, whether oil painting, watercolour or drawing, is instantly recognizable. Her distinctive palette and themes have been enriched by visits to Italy, Madeira, Egypt and India.