I'm writing this edition of the newsletter on the winter Solstice, from a carriage of a train ambling up the Hudson Valley, dusted with a fresh snow. We’ve spotted some ducks, geese, and herons amongst the reeds. I love the train, and I love this route.
It is overcast - the dull, soft white above is not so different than what is found below - divided only by the bare trees, which exist in such a multitude, they don't quite feel bare at all - almost fur-like from afar.
I've found it hard to notice the steps of winter, as so much of it feels like much the same - the days are short, the nights are long, the air is cold, the trees are bare, the ground is withered and frost-bitten, wildlife has slowed down for the seasons, spare the faithful few who keep us company through these months.
The things that feel new are things that shouldn't really be there at all, greenery tricked mistaking intermittent frost for early spring and coming up too early.
I'm aware this sounds like winter blues, but I do think I'm enjoying the season more this year than the last. I’m still walking and spotting birds, but I don't linger in the same way. Cold ears and fingers tell me to get back inside where it's warm and cozy, and I listen. Winter makes me hurry, I think.
We are now in midwinter - the time of darkest mornings and long shadows, sleepy bodies, but also a festive coziness and collective rest. In the spirit of that rest, you'll hear from me next at the end of Lesser Winter, the 19th of January. In the meantime, I leave you with a midwinter poem I like by Patricia Monaghan.
Yes, friends, the darkness wins, but those
short days so celebrate light:
Today the lemon sunrise lasted a few
hours until sunset, all day the snow
glowed pink and purple in the trees.
This is not a time of black and white.
My friends, outside us. Among us, too,
let's sing what winter forces us to know;
Joy and colour bloom despite the night.
We measure warmth by love, not
by degrees
Rising Winter Palette
Diamine Inks: Green/black
Distress Ink: antique linen
Tombow: 228, 312
Distress Crayon: tattered rose, peeled paint, forest moss
Holbein Irodori: Pine green, smoked bamboo
Unison Pastel: green 14, grey 31, brown earth 19 & 22, bg earth 9
Neocolour II: cinnamon, ochre, chromium oxide green, moss green, light grey, white
Derwent Drawing: pale cedar, crag green, warm earth, olive earth
Derwent Inktense: Ionian Green
Polychromos: earth green
Luminance: raw umber 10 & 50, burnt ochre 10, mild verdigris
Holbein Soft White