Autumn framing

"***A SMALL THEORY***
People observe the colors of a day only at its beginnings and its ends, but to me it's quite clear that a day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations, with each passing moment. A single hour can consist of thousands of different colors. Waxy yellows, cloud-spat blues. Murky darknesses. In my line of work, I make it a point to notice them. "
~Markus Zusak, The Book Thief


In childhood, my skills of observation and my passions for the natural world were honed outside. Years spent with Nora, exploring the garden or snuggled at her side with her directing my gaze out the kitchen window. That kitchen window still serves as my portal to the lives of wild creatures and the rhythms of the New England seasonal shifts. I played outside under the pines, oaks and sugar maples, scrambling up good sized glacial deposits that became my private granite ship or one bedroomed rocky abode. The canopy of colors changing with the months, enveloping me in hues imprinted in my brain, in my soul, have stayed with me.

This morning as I gazed out on a rainy Sunday with all the dying leaves flashing their final goodbyes like thousands of dripping and glistening flags, I thumbed through some of the Nora's nature books. Hal Borland, Jean Hersy, Gladys Tabor, all with genuine, first hand testaments to the intimate heartbeats of the world around us. I read a passage from Jean Hersey's book, The Shape Of A Year, where she writes of her efforts with watercolors. I latched on to some of her sentences, "After all, painting isn't wholly what happens on the pad but what happens to you when you paint... mixing various tones and trying to reproduce even a small part of an appealing outdoor spot is rewarding in itself and great fun". This text somehow triggered an idea, a thought that propelled me to collect colors from outside to frame my oil of little Swedish M. I see the oil pigments and the natural objects as one harmonious assemblage celebrating the earthy colors and hues we are bathed and surrounded with.

For the Record,
This day came in wet and gloomy. Warmer than yesterday, but not a nice outside weekend day so far. I hope it improves. The rain really intensifies the Autumn colors, but they are not spectacular here this year.

Check out this article and video I just came across.

I got an email this morning from A, M's Mama. This is what she wrote at the end of the note...When I showed M the painting she said: Det är ju M******! That's M******!