But this year winter has been long, long, long. And while I still like the clean look of a fresh coating of snow on my backyard, I'm tired of it. It's wet and sloppy out there and cold. It just feels cold. Every few days it snows again.
Tonight and tomorrow morning we are supposed to get another 10-15 cm. The green and brown patches that are appearing today will be blanketed again.
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| The backyard on April 15th, and more coming |
Health wise I haven't been great. I had a nine day patch where I was just too sick to leave the house. Then last weekend I did outings on Sat. and Sun and of course crashed hard Monday and Tuesday.
Maybe this is why I can't wait for spring. I would love to be able to sit out back and soak in some sun even if I'm too ill for outings.
My PhD is on hold until I get some stuff back from my supervisor. Basically I've done all the parts I can until something comes back to me. It means I haven't done any work really for a couple of weeks....which given my health is probably good, although I miss the distraction of having my 'work' to do each morning.
I've been doing lots of art (printmaking) instead (crap art to be honest, but hopefully I'm learning through it). I'm hoping to get a piece I actually like soon.
The music in my head these days? Les Miserables. I think I may have actually read the book years ago but I never saw the musical and of course in the last 10 years have been too ill for that kind of outing.
I really wanted to see the movie but wasn't well enough at the time. That and other stuff got in the way. But my roommate got the DVD for her birthday and we watched it. I LOVED the music and cannot get it out of my head! It just keeps going round and round in there - a soundtrack that follows me around constantly lately. It's funny, I wake up in the morning and right away it's "look down, look down" or "Do you hear the people sing, singing a song of angry men".
OK, so I'm going out on a limb here because this is a 'safe' and supportive audience on the whole. Here is a little 3 layer panorama print I've been working on. Thoughts? Impressions? My roommate really likes it, but I'm not sure quite how I feel about it.
Our snow is gone, plenty of rain and cold weather though.....lovely backyard, upnorth! Ready for Spring!!
ReplyDeleteOK so whats funny about my backyard Renee, is that fir tree all covered in snow is dead. It's from the christmas tree dump from post-christmas...we set it there for the birds and it's still green in April!!
ReplyDeletei like the "lightness" - it's a refreshing variation on how weighty block prints can look when they are mostly black. i get a hopeful crisp early morning feel from the colors... you know, before there's enough light in the sky to differentiate all the colors in the landscape. - jen
ReplyDeleteThanks Jen,
ReplyDeleteyes I know what you mean about the weightyness of block prints....very graphic. Infact, I think that's part of what draws me to them. But I spend a lot of time looking at other artist's work (my version of being schooled) and I want to get better at using layers to get feelings of depth and light. I went way lighter on the top layer than I would have a year ago....so thanks, and it really means something coming from a 'real' artist too :) And it's funny you said morning because "dawn" is exactly what I was going for!
beautiful print! serene, peaceful, calm, all those quality that a CFS/ME patient dreams for. you are a great artist, upnorth! with a talent like this, i hope you don't worry too much about phd.
ReplyDeletei think, the pinkish color of sky is a little off the tone. do you agree? if not, don't change anything. it is perfect as it is.
masonite was not good enough for my students. some of them found very hard to carve. i ordered some easy-cut blocks from dickblick and hope my students like them better.
i love "les miserable" book. have not watched movie. i personally think it might be the greatest book about humanity through entire history. i think movie would be great, however, i don't think the depth in book can be justified in musical movie.
i am so glad i am living in south. i started planting vegs already. we got over 70 degree here. only trouble is pollen.
hope you have some improvement during spring!
I love your block print! This could be a scene from my back yard with the ocean (well....minus the birch trees...we don't have birches here) Early morning here as the sun starts to rise, but isn't yet over the horizon, the sky can be quite pink. Love this!
ReplyDeleteAt home on the Rock, yes it does look like NFLD a bit doesn't it? Hope you are doing OK these days.
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