I’ve been collecting visual information since I last posted here. Lately, I find myself drawn to the winter landscape of my home in North Carolina–it’s quiet and stark, everything is “dead,” for lack of a better word…but everything is so beautiful! The dim and golden light, the gorgeous palate of brown, white, and gray, the movement of trees and grasses in the wind…
I drove to New York to visit friends and family for Christmas. It’s a long drive, providing 14 hours of thinking time. I noticed these same things as I drove through Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and then New York and couldn’t help but think about them. This is when I knew they were going to influence my enameling and be the starting point for my new work. I took lots of new pictures and sorted through files of images from the past on my computer, gathering together my favorites for this specific project. I have posted several images here and started a set on Flickr for all of them to be together and for you see, if you like. I have also posted some images of things I made during a wonderful enameling class with Helen Carnac. I see a similar thought pattern in these pieces, too. 
Thanks so much for reading.
How lovely to see the landscape there and to imagine walking with you…finding things, seeing that amazing view…though it looks cold. David and I went on a very dramatic walk on New Years Day at a place called Winchelsea which is down on the South Coast, the landscape was amazing, but it rained so hard it was hard to see and we got soaked. I’ll post some pictures later. It has not really been cold here yet in the way it should be, its quite strange but perhaps we have that to come. x
Hi Helen, A walk with you would be delightful. I am looking forward to some walks when I visit you later in the year. It’s funny how those images look cold. I guess its the barrenness of the landscape. It was probably in the 40s which to me is not so bad. I am going walk and take more pictures soon…so many beautiful things here. I am loving the winter landscape more than ever.
Yes I will think up some good ones to do while you are here. Its been around 50 here for much of the winter and I kind of yearn the frost as I love the winter landscape too. Perhaps that is why we like making marks in white?
Here is a link to some watery images from New Years Day
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44278837@N08/
The blurred image is so evocative, I love it. Along with the images of those works I was reminded, at an important time in my process, of the power of minimalism. Thanks for posting these. m