Rose Hips Redeaux

Rose Hips Redeaux, a photo by linfrye on Flickr.

9" x 12"
Arches 140#CP

Fickle weather this week -- for the last three days, we've had temps in the mid 70sF, sunshine and mild winds. The plants too are confused - and though they all need cutting back and readying for winter, here and there these same plants are sending up new shoots and blossoms!! YIKES! We have a cold front moving in tonight with rain and cooler temperatures -- and though I am the LAST one who wants to see -- or feel -- the cold - this lingering heat spell just seems out of season!

I suppose it's where one spends most of his or her time that determines what 'feels' like a normal seasonal weather. Growing up on the East Coast of the US, I'm used to four pretty distinct seasons -- winter, spring, summer, fall. Even when I moved to the South, I could still have a winter season -- milder and shorter, perhaps, but a winter - cold, grey, wet, and snow every once in a while. I like this sort of weather -- albeit for a short time -- but enough to be called 'winter.'

Winter for me is a calming and slowing down, a contemplative period when the sun doesn't quite beckon me out of doors, when the plants and animals can be left to slumber and hibernate -- and in a way -- so can I. Winter for me is a time of planning, a time to consider the year and activities ahead. And even though at work we hold classes all winter long, that frenzied feeling of spring and summer activities just isn't there. Quite truthfully, I need a bit of winter to recuperate from the activities of the past year, and rest up for those to come -- don't you? Right now, I am longing for fireside cups of coffee, cuddling up with a good book, retreating to my art table for more than a few minutes at a time... and winter seems to provide just the 'excuse' I need to do these things -- bring it on! (ahem ... but only for a short while ...it doesn't take me long to miss the sun!! LOL)

So that brings us to rose hips. There are still some lingering on the bushes ... provider of vitamin C, bright berries for the birds, and wonderful color amid all the sere foliage. I painted this view of rose hips a while back and the painting found its way to a new home. I enjoyed painting it and so, with warm weather still around me, I repainted the view .... adding a bit more leaves ....perhaps my bit of a nod to the unseasonable weather ... and making the painting as bright as the sun has been this week.

Today we make our wreaths. The workshop has been sold out for weeks and we've a full house. I'll be glad for cooler weather coming later this week - it will help keep our fresh greens brighter and longer lasting. AND it will feel more like winter...!