Ice from all angles, this collection explores the dramatic beauty of the fiercest season, winter.
Engaging with winter requires a certain preparedness, I have found this to be especially true for life in Canada. And especially for a mild mannered Brit in Canada.
After suffering through a couple of dark winters I bought a sun lamp, dosed myself with vitamin D (most Canadians are Vitamin D deficient according to my Doctor)and got some proper winter boots. And then I challenged myself to read a winter themed book during each winter to better survive. OK so I'm not exactly hardening myself to full immersion but having more of a mind to engage with the cold I knew was a step forward. And with knowledge comes power.
"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather." John Rushkin
This was where I hoped to get,
yet perhaps this perspective from Shakespeare might be accurate,
"Winter, which being full of care, makes summer's welcome thrice more wished, more rare."
I wanted to find the beauty of winter as just as rare a gift. With our modern living we can keep it out a lot better but in doing so miss some extraordinary wonder.
In one of my more recent reads Winterlust, Bernd Brunner notes how the Finnish Sámi peoples see snow as not only protective but as a 'nurturing' force, the land rests beneath. Trees drop their leaves to conserve water as it is actually a dry season with everything frozen. Some animals migrate, while others sleep. Lichens and other plants are preserved from frost by snow cover which can in turn sustain reindeer. In a season of harsh temperatures the snow is a welcome insulator for all kinds of life, without which survival is almost impossible.
This collection focuses on landscapes transformed by the beautiful white stuff. Snow crystals are 'intrinsically pellucid' (Bernd again) appearing white to us because they absorb and then emit all colours of sunlight(or moon-light) to approximately the same degree - it is fascinating to paint.
In a gesture to Scandinavian peoples I invite you to bring the colours and tones of the snow inside this year to keep this gift close.
I hope you enjoy this collection as much as I have in putting it together.
