Snow and Illness

If we allow it to happen, snow will awaken the inner child.  There is a since of childish wonder and awe that can come with the snow, when you don’t think of shoveling too much, that is.  Temporarily shutting down the noisy adult and instead releasing the inner child enables snow to once again captivate.  Snow makes a transformative impression on the landscape.  We have been having a great deal of snow over the past few days and I have been sick with stomach flu which gave me a lot of time to sit, think, curl up in a blanket and dream.  As an artist, winter is one of the most important times.  It can be a very productive and stimulating period in the creative calendar.  Everything is in a state of flux, changing day by day and the snow makes everything in the landscape seem bright and new.  There is a lot of mystery, so much lies beneath the surface of what we can see.  Dreams become powerful—there is no denying it--winter is the time I get the most done.  The snow makes it visually stunning but typically in Chicago winter is very long, cold, icy, and gray.  This type of visual deprivation makes you turn inward into the realm of imagination, memory, spirit and dreams. You can also become a more nuanced visionary, searching for nuances in tones, shades, values and within the landscape.  Unfortunately, I am still feeling ill with the flu.  Thanks to the Goddess, it is not something worse.  This will soon pass; meanwhile, I will use the snow and the illness as vehicles to open some memory banks, rummage for new ideas and to think.  This is a good time for art journaling and working on my lap with a small sketchbook and colored pencils. The image I’m posting today is a little 5 x 7 art card I made not long ago using embossing, stamps, painted paper, colored and fabric.