Abstract Landscape Painter. Rural Dweller. Lover of Modernist Art and Design.
“Begin Afresh, Afresh, Afresh”
I can’t believe that it’s April already. As soon as January is over, the year seems to pick up speed! The trees are nearly out now. I took a photograph of the horse-chestnut on the green. It was a shot taken from below, looking up through the branches. Those nearly-open leaves remind me of folded umbrellas. I remembered the opening lines of Philip Larkin’s poem, “The trees are coming into leaf, Like something almost being said…” What a brilliant piece of poetry! Those two images put together are a cleverly-crafted work of art. The last verse is also excellent:
“Yet still the unresting castles thresh
In fullgrown thickness every May,
Last year is dead they seem to say,
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.”
When I read that I can see the heavy, fullgrown tops of the trees moving with huge energy in response to the warm Spring winds and hear their sound. There seems to be so much power and strength in them.
Beginning afresh can be a good thing I think. I haven’t painted for a couple of weeks. Illness prevented me from doing anything for a week and that period of time merged into the Easter holidays. I do think that the enforced break has been a useful hiatus. I was tired and my mind needed some space. Last week we made a trip to the coast (chips on the beach at Aldeburgh is always helpful I find!) and I have visited a few galleries just to happily browse around. There are also some interesting events coming up which will refresh the palate. This week, for example, sees the beginning of the Cambridge Literary Festival which I will be attending. Later in the month is the 10th Anniversary Show organised by Cobbold & Judd, which will give me the opportunity of viewing new work by Patrick George and Maggi Hambling as well as Annabel Gault, Patrice Lombardi and Ari Shand.
Another great pleasure of this month is working on the veg plot. This will also be a week of planting AND of covering with wire in order to keep the young rabbits and muntjac away!
In many ways this feels more like the start of a new year than January did because everything is beginning to come back to life. I can’t wait to get into the studio, gesso some panels and begin some new work. To experiment and to “start afresh, afresh, afresh.”
“The Trees” by Philip Larkin
Cambridge Literary Festival, Spring 2015, 14-19 April
“10th Anniversary Show”, Cobbold & Judd, Orwell Park, Nacton, Suffolk, 24-30 April
All text (except poem) & images ©2015 Carol Saunderson
http://anartistinthelandscape.blogspot.co.uk/
