Keeping warm while painting in the cold white north

Here's a few tips I've learned from members of the Ontario Plein Air Society (OPAS) and my own experiments.

1. When it's below freezing, paint for 20 minutes maximum, then get back to shelter to warm up with a coffee, etc. Do not stay out for one minute longer, even if you're on a role. If a chill sets in, and it will, you're done for the day. You will not be able to shake the chill. (Thanks to Zan Barrage for this tip.)
2. Do as the Group of Seven did and wear wool socks (Marino wool is best) instead of gloves or mitts over your hands. Poke your brush through the tip of your sock (cut a small hole) and handle the brush with your bare hand.
3. On my non-painting hand, I also wear a glove liner. This is so I can take the sock off and pick up brushes, open paint tubes and do other things that need dexterity without freezing my hand.
4. Invest in chemical hand warmers, also use them in your boots.
5. Buy snowmobile boots. These are about the warmest boots you can buy. They're not very good for walking any distance, but your feet will thank you. If I have to hike any distance, I sling the boots over my shoulder and walk in winter hiking boots and change into the snowmobile books when I reach my painting spot.
6. Wear multiple layers. Use a "wicking" layer next to your skin, with an insulating layer on top of that, followed by a wind-breaking layer on top. (Once, in -29c with the windchill, I wore five layers. Iooked silly but stayed warm.)
7. Cut a three foot by three foot piece of thick carpet (rubber-backed is best), bring it with you to paint outs and place it on top of the snow where you intend to stand (sit) and paint. This insulates you from the cold ground and helps keep your feet dry.
8. If it's really cold, wear a balaclava to keep your face from freezing.
9. If you usually paint in acrylic, give them up for the winter and switch to oil. The paint manufacturers don't recommend using acrylics below +4 Celsius.
10. Keep your surface and palette in the shade. Even muted colours look rather intense in the bright light of a winter's day. If you don't, you will find the bright, saturated painting you thought you were painting darkens right down when taken into normal lighting.
11. Paint fast. :-) Nothing loosens up your brushwork like knowing you only have 20 minutes to finish.

Do you have any other neat tricks or products you can add to the list?

And suggesting we all, "Head south for the winter and paint in Florida." doesn't count as a legitimate tactic for surviving plein air in the Canadian winter. :-)

Cheers,

Keith