Maple Vein Squares

Maple Vein Squares, originally uploaded by escher (waiting for Autumn).

Wow, what a crap week it has been. It has rained pretty much non-stop, it has been extremely windy and autumn is certainly upon us as the nights are so obviously drawing in. I've been feeling really depressed and directionless and despite wanting to curl up in a corner and hide I have had endless crappy things to deal with that I could not avoid. A consequence of this mood is that my creativity has dried up and so I've not felt the satisfaction or the much needed solace that comes from making some art that I liked. With all the stress I started to feel that my creative edge was beginning to dissipate and I would not know how to ignite it once again.

But perhaps this demeanour is land art after all as the coming change in season dredges up deep feelings of melancholy as the period of abundance draws to a close. Perhaps I am feeling mother nature changing as all creatures at this time of year must do.

As the working week drew to a close the sun started to shine so I took a lunchtime stroll to blow away the cobwebs. The warmth on my face started to change the feeling in my stomach from sadness to a glow and it soon grew to genuine contentedness.

It is those things we call the small things that have the most profound affect on us whether we are aware of them or not. The small things should really be called the big things as that is how they really feel.

So I turned over a new leaf (do you see what I did there J) and as I looked at the dappled sunshine sparkle through the translucent leaves in their first autumnal flush I knew that where you lose one season you gain another and autumn is as wonderful as spring.

I stood beneath a single maple tree and the leaves on three of it’s dozens of branches were now turning every colour under the sun and another of those small things – the beauty of nature - was there in front of me in all it’s glory.

I took some of those and some yellowed leaves from a black poplar tree and just followed wherever my imagination took me. The right-angled veins of the dark maple leaves, the banana yellow of the black poplar and the red of the maple stalks were combined together until it felt just right.

The wind was still blowing strong so I would need some luck to get a picture in the can.

The leaves kept twisting in the wind but as I stepped back to my camera the arch frame tilted and put the whole sculpture into tension keeping it upright and straight and still.

It seems luck had returned to me and my art where just hours before I thought there was none. We can all find joy in the small things you just need to leave yourself open to find them.

And as I write these last sentences I glance to my right into the garden and a beautiful sparrowhawk is sitting on the wall in a pool of sunshine. How grateful I am for the small things.

Land Art Site