Pink Spring

Pink Spring

Oil on canvas paper, $65 matted

It's chilly here this morning, and the Christmas lights are up in town - but yesterday, I found myself painting spring! In part, it's because I got some new paint and wanted to check it out, but I know I also painted spring as a kind of therapy against the dullness of winter here in Virginia.

Please don't misunderstand! It is great to be in a place where 20 degrees is considered brutally COLD, and where we see snow geese more frequently than we see snow. I love this soft Eastern Shore winter - but I don't love the drain of color from the landscape, the grayness, the monotone.

In New England, the snow causes all sorts of problems and headaches - but all that snow sharpens the sunlight, bounces it along the scratchy branches of the bare trees, the dark hearts of the evergreens, bringing out the most of the few colors winter affords.

But in not so much more than a few weeks from now, when the spring bulbs begin to poke up, and the tips of the trees start to turn red, and the lawn begins to green up, not so far from now, color will flood back to the Eastern Shore, while the long, dark stretches of the north country will still be covered in winter.

It was those spring colors that lighted my imagination the other day when I painted this. It was a memory, a hope, a small song of praise.

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A Contest! 

PEOPLE OFTEN POINT OUT that I use a lot of paint - and I do! So at the end of March of this year, I started saving the caps from my used paint tubes. I'm going to save them until the end of March 2017, then count them. Anyone who wants to play, please send me an email with your guess. The one who comes closest without going over wins a 10-inch-by-10-inch painting of their choice! 

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Dog of the Day

From left, it's Henry, George and Jasmine, wishing you all Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Good Kwanzaa, and Joyous Festivus! 

Want your pet to be the Dog of the Day? Send a jpg to me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com. Holiday-oriented photos are particularly appreciated! 

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A Final Thought

"When bankers get together for dinner, they discuss art. 

When artists get together for dinner, they discuss money." 

- Oscar Wilde