Welcome to 2026 and all that the year may bring creatively for us all. The darkest of the Winter months are now behind us, here in the Northern hemisphere that is true at least. I have been out drawing, also seeking snow drops and primroses along the lanes. Where are those wonderful greens of Spring I wonder?
Below are some image details from a small mixed media paste work called Spring Downpour,Sharpham. The use of site specific found pigments and tools really brings me back to this place and time.
Below are some beautiful details of the first daffodils of spring shy with the final amaryllis blooms that had lasted from the week before Christmas!
In my last blog in December of last year I suggested that artists have so often paid great heed to the seasons and Mother Nature.
“Our climate and human action and interaction with Mother Nature have been interpreted through so many art forms for centuries. That we can source these works, learning from them and from each other is key to making collective steps for a future.”
Here are examples from Shakespeare that caught my attention.
Opening Scene The boy..“Primrose, first child of Ver,
merry springtime’s harbinger,”
Two Noble Kinsmen Act1. Sc1.
[Ver meaning Spring comes logically enough from the French Vert or green].
HERMIA (unwilling to marry Demetrius planning to flee Athens with Lysander)
“And in the wood where often you and I
Upon faint primrose beds were wont to lie,”
A Midsummer’s Night Dream Act 1. Sc 1.
[Though often Shakespeare refers to the fragility of the primrose as “pale” and “faint” (Hamlet and Macbeth) as they flower so early that they do not feel the warmth of the summer sunshine. Spring is full of promise guiding us from our overwintering to fresh beginnings].
There are deep swathes of snowdrops, white with hints of apple green on their delicate nodding heads. They sit along the banks of the fast moving rivers beside the wild garlic, watching the waters pass. Waters that have swollen with day upon day of rains that swept in from the Atlantic Ocean, saturated fields that opportunistically glisten with a brief appearance of sunshine.
Above are some pictures of the marmalade process and below some still life work where I used markers pens.
As January arrived I searched for some Seville oranges from which to make a few jars of marmalade. For me, the ritual of making a couple of kilos of this jam is not only a little personal tradition but an excuse to explore the senses. Drawing these fruits as a still life and enjoying the creative process of the visual study. To have the added bonus of being able enjoy the still life as something to preserve and eat, the chopping sounds, the wonderful citrus aromas coming from the kitchen, what a way to lift the spirits and begin the New year and escape the leaden grey skies that sometime seem to rather bear down on us.
January is a reflective month for many of us to consider our life or progress , perhaps make new plans, or reflect on the year that has passed. I always make a short “pilgrimage” as it were to find the first of the wild daffodils that seem to flower each year on my late father’s birthday (third week of January). They are down by a place called Longmarsh along the river from Totnes in Devon. A still and grey day but they were there as ever.
Below are some images from the pilgrimage to Longmarsh in the third week of January this year.
The word daffodil comes from the old English word affodyle which we are told means “that which comes early.” As the "early comer," the plant came to symbolize rebirth, new beginnings, and joy, particularly in the "language of flowers”. We see here that Shakespeare was following the seasons with references to flowers. In plant lore there is a belief that spring flowers hang their heads, such as daffodils, violets and snowdrops, a symbolism of grief and tears perhaps?
Perdita
“Daffodils,
That come before the swallow dares, and take.
[take here meaning to charm or bewitch]
The winds of March with beauty;”
Winter’s Tale Act 4. Sc.4
The daffodil has some fine names here in the U.K and there are all sorts of regional variations; Trumpets in Yorkshire, Scrambled eggs in Somerset, Nebbits in Norfolk. Daffidowndilly in Buckinghamshire and Cumberland, Julians on the Isle of Wight, Lents in Cornwall and Butter-and-eggs in Devon.
I am told that the start of Lent in 2026 and the beginning of Ramadan commence at the same time this year, this only happens every thirty or thirty three years or from now to around 2059! I so hope the spring will always be as exciting and comforting wherever you are.
