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The Artist’s
Almanac
April 2005
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April days are the
most used up of all the year.
April renews our
youth, and we, like young lovers, full of passionate promises, lay
off huge gardens we shall later abandon to weeds in August’s heat.
The lawn is shaggy and cries to be cut. Chickweed smothers the
larkspur and must be pulled by hand. It is time to prune and
fertilize roses and to lop fruit trees that don’t bloom. We sleep
well April nights.
We plan vacations to
photogenic climes, while all around us the most astounding miracles
unfold. Winter’s umber woods haze green as Redbuds rise slowly to
our attention. An old orchard of pear trees in their white
bridesmaid dresses proceeds down the hill to their rendezvous with
spring.
The cattle find the
succulent grass more to their liking than last year’s hay, while in
the next pasture two new kids gambol after their nanny. Downtown
office workers take their lunch breaks in the streets and notice
each other.
April is a time of
renewal for the artist – a time to abandon winter’s stale studio
references and still lifes and to find new inspiration under April’s
mild skies. Time is limited; materials are few; distractions are
many. Choose well and choose once. However bad the work there is
always an urgency which lends excitement to an outdoor sketch which
is missing from any studio work. Never mind the rain – a cloudy sky
or shroud of drizzle makes the greens the greener by contrast.
20 Minute Sketch of Old Carriage House completed live before tv
cameras last week
Artist, gardener or
office worker, we all need April. She comes to us now like a little
girl, her hair wet from a shower, bearing in her arms tulips,
irises, peonies, violets, hyacinths, and lilacs, asking, Will you
come out and play?
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