Abstract Landscape Painter. Rural Dweller. Lover of Modernist Art and Design.
A New Landscape
So I've changed location. I sit here in the kitchen of our new cottage, gazing down the long, narrow garden and out to the rolling countryside beyond. Two hares have just run past at full pelt, about 100m from the house.
I still feel slightly disorientated, having lost most of my familiar markers. It will take time to re-establish myself and to find the new version of me that will grow in this different terroir. It is a strange life-in-waiting kind of phase, particularly being between Christmas and the New Year. A rich mixture of life lies behind and so much yet unknown lies ahead. I miss my old friends and neighbours, and my beloved little cottage and valley, but I am deeply grateful for this beautiful new home, with it's little garden studio and wonderful views. Instead of being enclosed within a valley, I now find myself at a higher point in the landscape, on the edge of a plateau from whence the fields on two sides roll and tumble down and away for as far as the eye can see. There are not many buildings in view anywhere - just a few farms and the top of the tower of an ancient church. I like the fact that so many of the buildings here are medieval - higgledy-piggledly, multi-coloured. The beautiful village of Lavenham lies only minutes away. I find the blocks of colour cheerful and the uneven lines soothing. It will be interesting to see what effect all this has on my painting. It is bound to change as a result of this new viewpoint and influences.
In many ways it is a difficult time to move, in mid-winter - bleak and starved of light. But amidst the stormy weather there have been frosty days of crisp sunshine and moonlit mornings and nights full of stars, so silent that I could have heard a leaf fall in the garden. I look forward to getting back to work during the next few days, to organising my little studio and starting to paint again, whilst overlooking a new corner of the world. I'm looking forward to a new routine and to the Spring and seeing all the changes that the increasing light and temperatures will make to the earth and the wildlife roundabout. I look forward to the birds coming back and am pleased that our new home is named after my favourite little character - Wren Cottage.
All text and images ©2013 Carol Saunderson
