Past and future have dissolved, and I’m held in the white eternity of a moment so astonishing it melts all my words. All weight has lifted; the innumerable downward trajectories have convinced my senses that I am floating, or rather rising slowly upward, and the ground itself rising beneath me- the Earth and I ascending weightless through space.
-David Abram
The Air Aware
Mind and mood on a breathing planet,
Orion magazine Sept/Oct 2009
Art-making whether it is photography or painting can help us see the living world in inspiring new ways.
My obsession with snow started a few weeks ago when the internet was abuzz with Russian photographer Alexey Kljatov’s gorgeous macro photography of individual snow flakes http://chaoticmind75.blogspot.ru/2013/08/my-technique-for-snowflakes-shooting.html. In elementary school science class we are taught that each snowflake is an unique crystal but I never imagined they could be as beautiful as Kljatov reveals them to be….
Canadian Paul Burwell has also revealed snowflake beauty through photography. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/news-video/video-images-of-snowflakes/article610469/?from=1357190
And as far back as the late 1800’s Wilson Bentley was photographing and sharing images of snowflakes to the amazement of the public http://snowflakebentley.com/WBsnowflakes.htm. In fact in 1885, using a specially designed microscope coupled with a camera he became the first person to successfully photograph one.
“Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty; and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others. Every crystal was a masterpiece of design and no one design was ever repeated., When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost. Just that much beauty was gone, without leaving any record behind.”
–Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley 1925
–Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley 1925
The first snow fall of the season here on the west coast of Canada got me thinking beyond celebrating the microscopic beauty of individual flakes, and instead drew my attention to the unique dance each does on its way to the ground. I’ve long been fascinated by the amazing spiraling dance of individual leaves in the fall. It seemed like a perfect time to draw and paint with falling crystals now that the season has shifted. My intention was to explore, have fun and deepen our connection.
The result is an artful encounter with falling snow entitled SNOW ART. No special tools were needed to give this a go. Just some some pens, some paint and a sense of adventure……. That means you can try this too!