Incantations As the Storm Raged
First paintings of the year
Storm Isha roared, wild and frightening like a banshee. Yet what does her wail foretell?
It is very rare for a storm to cover the entire 600 miles of the UK, causing - sea swells flooding, high winds, and torrential rain.
She left many without power, yet I feel a bit guilty feeling like a little kid when the electricity flickers. An excitement that the power is going to go out. I can think of years in my 20s with candles already burning I had no idea there was a power cut.
With the dark silhouettes of the trees bending to their limit, I picked up my paintbrushes for the first time this year.
There is a pattern to my painting where I look over sketches I’ve done and the plan is to create an abstract landscape.
Usually, the paintings are coming along to plan (do paintings ever go to plan?), and then when I step back there’s a hint of a figure. Then I feel obliged to highlight the figure, and then the landscape sinks back. Or perhaps I haven’t noticed that they need the landscape to emerge from.
This time I didn’t even bother with the landscape as the symbols around the outer rim acted like an incantation, inviting the old ones in.
The next morning, which was still rather blustery I enjoyed looking at all the lichen on the fallen branches, snapped off from the tops of trees.
My favourite colour palette
As much as I love winter, the daffodils, sheltering under the holly were a welcome reminder of change. Who knows what changes this year will bring, a year tht was born into war. Whatever the year brings there will always be some active hope smouldering in my heart. A hope Brighid aways kindles.