Cherry Leaf Curtain

Cherry Leaf Curtain, originally uploaded by escher (waiting for Autumn).

Well I think the wait may be over. Autumn has arrived. I haven't visited my favourite cherry trees this year and finally they are starting to produce their most wonderful autumn colours.

But what is autumn and when does it start?

The Americans have a good system for this, they call it fall. So I propose that we rename spring to grow, summer to wilt and winter to shiver (the French nearly got that one right). Or how about using colours? Autumn could be red, summer yellow, spring green and winter white.

I noticed the first signs of colour earlier this week. Several beech trees were changing but they did look diseased. But every one of the ten cherry trees I searched out this morning had small clusters of orangey-pink leaves and these looked disease free.

It has been very wet in the UK over the last few weeks so it can't be that the trees need a drink but I don't remember seeing colour this early before. But again just like I hadn't ever noticed the colours that I found this spring and summer perhaps it is always this way. That autumn starts earlier and lasts longer than you might think and by putting my self on standby (escher waiting for autumn) then this year I have noticed the change. Another layer peeled back.

The autumnal theme is quite apt though as you may have noticed that this sculpture is sitting on a window sill. It has been very, very windy today. Far too windy for anything ephemeral to reach a point where I could take its photograph so I collected all the materials and went home. Whilst collecting I was lucky it was dry but a few short minutes after I got home the heavens opened so I have spent the day making this, listening to the radio whilst the rain lashed the window and the wind rocked the flowers and trees to and fro. The only evidence that belied it not being a full on autumnal day was the humidity and the temperature, everything else was just as it should be for an October day.

The other thing I learnt today is if you are going to make something indoors and photograph it there too then don't use the window sill that the cat likes to sit on because you will find that when you review the photos on your computer that the cat hair and paw smears on the glass will spoil the result. And after cleaning it inside and out beware of interested partners who suggest that you photograph it in front of several other windows. It isn't that they appreciate your art, it is more that the appreciate you cleaning the windows.

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