I could write about the shortest day today. December 21st. Technically as I write this at 8pm, it has not happened as the winter solstice is late in the daily cycle, coming in at 22:23 GMT in the Northern Hemisphere, when the sun crosses into Capricorn. But yes this momentous day in my world is one I've long celebrated, in that for the next 6 months the days lengthen, ever so imperceptibly at first then in late February, the change gathers pace. I can't wait for those spring dusk's at 7pm, blackbirds singing against a Prussian blue sky, all life energised once again.
But another energiser for me is taking images in sepia. There is something about the warm tones of sepia which I love. Take for example the image here above of a teasel bed on the Hawk and Owl Trust Reserve, Shapwick in Somerset. It is a lovely enough image, seed heads entwined about each other. But refocus and snap in sepia and the images gain an ethereal quality, reaching back in time, yet it was only today. It's nearly 10 years since I laid down my paint brushes as my fledgling commercial art period ground to a halt. The inspiration dried up along with my unravelling private life. Recently though I can feel the urge to go back into selling my artwork. I loved painting to ambition and loved painting for profit. Not a phrase many artists use. I painted fast and sold at a fair price. For me I wanted my paintings to be on someone's wall, not gathering dust in an attic. Maybe that is the legacy of my father, who was a printer, graphic and production artist and sign writer - everything he did had to pay the bills. And he did it exceptionally well. Art does pay. Advance please the springtime, I feel energised once again, as I indulge in my sepia moments.
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