“Are the days of winter sunshine just as sad for you, too? When it is misty, in the evenings, and I am out walking by myself, it seems to me that the rain is falling through my heart and causing it to crumble into ruins.” Gustave Flaubert.
(First published March 3, 2019)
Winter's End. Mixed media. (variety of pastels and coloured pencils) on 9 X 12 Canson Mi-Teintes paper. Colours in the photo above are cooler than in header photo because of the lighting. The above photo is closer to the actual painting.
The end of winter is near.
If you live in the northern hemisphere, you are probably happy to see the end of winter. Such is not the case with Winter's End.
The young girls I paint always are sad it seems. For example, Life is the most difficult exam, and A strange kind of beautiful.
Some of us have had enough of winter this year; it has been a rather strange one with days of intense cold followed by freezing rain, and then turning to snow.
In spite of this, I can't say I hate winter. Sure, like every other Canadian, I complain about the weather: it is a national pastime after all!
However, each season has its own special beauty, and winter must be appreciated for the silence that blankets the earth as each fat snowflake falls lazily to the ground.
Just as we accept the vagaries of other seasons, we must embrace winter's whims.
Flaubert's melancholic view of winter's end
I must be the only blogger quoting Flaubert! But I can't help myself when the words are so hauntingly melancholic.
Is it the English teacher or the romantic in me that makes me love the idea expressed in Flaubert's words? I couldn't tell you; however, the quotation describes the way I feel about the end of winter this year.
“Are the days of winter sunshine just as sad for you, too? When it is misty, in the evenings, and I am out walking by myself, it seems to me that the rain is falling through my heart and causing it to crumble into ruins.”
So maybe I am just a little sad, much like the young woman in my painting, to see the end of winter.
How do you feel about the changing of the seasons? Am I the only one feeling this sense of melancholy at this time of the year?
Winter's End (2019).
