Pointing to a Snow Tree

This tree appears to have leaves, but it's all or somewhat all snow. The sun is behind the tree. I am looking for an image that expresses hope and joy. Hard to do with a cold, snowy scene, though I was exhilarated to be there, on my snowshoes no less. I might attempt a pastel version of this one. This is another 'big' drawing.

I continue to read Annie Dillard. The following is from Living by Fiction: "...You know how a puppy, when you point off in one direction for him, looks at your hand. It is hard to train him not to. The modernist arts... have gone to a great deal of trouble to untrain us readers, to force us to look at the hand. Contemporary modernist fine prose says, Look at my hand. Plain prose says, Look over there. But these are matters of emphasis. So long as words refer, the literary arts will continue to do two things at once, just as all representational painting does two things at once. They point to the world with a hand."