It is a golden evening after days of rain. I walk up the hill behind my house as the sun gradually lowers to the mountains. There is a breeze but the air is soft and sweet. The spring peepers are in loud chorus in the nearby swamp. Their sound is all encompassing. It both grounds me and has an expansive effect.
I hold my hands up to keep the direct sun rays out of my eyes as I face west. The view is spectacular, as always, yet it is different. Farms, fields, forest, and mountains are highlighted by the late day sun and contrasting shadows. The field before me has a mix of grass and alfalfa and it appears translucent with the sun shining through it. It seems to be in a state of heightened existence. The new leaves in the treetops are emerging from buds of many colors; white flowers, leaves of yellow green, darker green, pinks and reds. As the leaves on most trees become full, the ferns sprout. The resulting fiddleheads are a delicious treat and spring tonic.
I walk back down the hill as the sun hangs momentarily above the mountains and casts a golden light on all. This is the magic moment at the day’s end. Once the sun disappears, the colors in the sky become more brilliant but all else is shade.
Back inside I’m dyeing the ribbon and rolled silk that my batik hang from. The LARAC members show will run from April 30 through June 13. The piece I’m putting in is a colorful celebration of life named “Moonlight over Spring”. This work presents the coming to life of the earth in spring and shows a visual representation of the forces and patterns below ground that I spoke of a couple of weeks ago.