TEMPUS FUGIT: seasons

11/03/2011

Fear of spring

To commemorate the first birthday of this blog... I might have chosen Emily Dickinson's poem 'A Light Exists in Spring' which speaks specifically of the light in early March, but instead

I dreaded that first Robin, so,
But He is mastered, now,
I'm accustomed to Him grown,
He hurts a little, though—

I thought If I could only live
Till that first Shout got by—
Not all Pianos in the Woods
Had power to mangle me—

I dared not meet the Daffodils—
For fear their Yellow Gown
Would pierce me with a fashion
So foreign to my own—

I wished the Grass would hurry—
So—when 'twas time to see—
He'd be too tall, the tallest one
Could stretch—to look at me—

I could not bear the Bees should come,
I wished they'd stay away
In those dim countries where they go,
What word had they, for me?

They're here, though; not a creature failed—
No Blossom stayed away
In gentle deference to me—
The Queen of Calvary—

Each one salutes me, as he goes,
And I, my childish Plumes,
Lift, in bereaved acknowledgment
Of their unthinking Drums—

Emily Dickinson

30/01/2011

Same view, different times

Well, same-ish view, Kommetjie beach from a particular bench on the boardwalk for the last three, and actually on the beach in the first spread. I've always loved the almost-repetition of the almost-the-same. It's the underlying minimalism of my not very minimalist work...

Brush markers and watercolour in Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook.

Brush markers and watercolour in Windsor and Newton spiral-bound sketchbook.

05/01/2011

Colours

I met a very young woman on my beachside walk this morning, with a small puppy and four children, all delightful. The puppy was a Jack Russell, the children were three white, one (adopted) little black girl. The woman and her husband are missionaries from Tennessee. I was impressed by her kindness and openness and tranquility, and the children's friendliness: so many people are either hostile to, or suspicious of, a person whose camera lens cap has been removed. The dog was a darling too.