All That Glitters.....

I'd like to turn the old saying "all that glitters is not gold" upside down. I am very very tired of winter; the endless cold has worn me down, and when it snowed all day yesterday I moaned and groaned. But but....I woke up this morning and the landscape was sparkling: the crystalline flakes of snow were catching and reflecting light, as though they were millions of tiny jewels. The glitter wasn't gold, but it was a lovely gift, not a hollow one.

I so much wanted to capture the sense of glistening particles to share here, but so much of this phenomenon has to do with movement: a turn of the head, a shift of the eye, and the light bounces and moves; a photograph can only give a pale imitation. (It does help to click on the photos to enlarge them.)

So, I thought I'd concentrate on compositions with expanses of snow and details of objects.....

....plants....

....or garden furniture, all waiting for the thaw. The snow glitters around them.

Two years ago, a show at the Met highlighting the Rinpa aesthetic in Japanese art showed a dramatic use of emptiness in compositions with minimal natural forms; these ideas have influenced much of my work.

In the woods, thin branches rise above glittering snow, are covered by it, are shadows on it. There is still much beauty on offer in this longing-for-spring time of year.