Abstract Landscape Painter.  Rural Dweller.  Lover of Modernist Art and Design.

Reading

A beautiful Spring day and a welcome break from the recent wintry weather.  We've been out in the garden today, cutting back the dead herbs and flowers that have stood for too long.  Having been kept out of the garden by the excessive rain of last autumn and the snow of this winter, it was a pleasure to be able to tidy everything at last.  There was so much new growth lying beneath the dead leaves!  The snowdrops were looking especially good and some pale mauve crocuses had opened today for the first time.

Now that the light is fading I'm looking forward to a bit of reading by the fire.  I don't claim to be the most widely read person in the world, but it is one of life's great pleasures for me, and another source of inspiration.  My most recent reads have been "The Spiral Staircase" by Karen Armstrong, "How To Be A Woman" by Caitlin Moran and "The Cleaner of Chartres" by Salley Vickers.  A bit of an eclectic mix, but all brilliant in their different ways!  I love books that contain really interesting ideas that my brain can grapple with and ones that are beautifully and elegantly written -  like Salley Vickers' novels.  Over the years, I have found stories, concepts and descriptive passages all inspirational for painting.  For example, "Through a Glass Darkly", by Jostein Gaarder comprised a quirky story and some thought-provoking ideas.  "The Hours" by Michael Cunningham has some really beautiful descriptions in it and Virginia Woolf's "The Waves"  contained some of the most fantastic word pictures that I have ever read.  Caitlin Moran's book was poignant, stocked with outstanding common sense, and probably made me laugh more than any other.

I am currently working on a painting inspired by a poem.

"They swept the beach with steel blue and diamond-tipped water"

"The Waves" - Virginia Woolf

All text (except quotation) and images ©2013 Carol Saunderson