Gloom, and Hope

'Gloom, and Hope," 8 x 10 watercolor, 140 lb. d'Arches rough press paper

The gloom of late November has set in, yet...

My mood deepened as the gray skies and weather ended beautiful sunlit days, seeming to fit the deepening gloom of  personal issues, the out-of-control pandemics of disease, racism, threats of violence and a petulant president.

Having completed my annual Christmas card projects, gloom found me unable to pick up a paintbrush, because I couldn't think of what I wanted to paint what I felt. 

Two desperation attempts were disasters--they were not how I felt, or had a story to tell.

"What do you feel," asked Susan, and I responded gloomy, to match the weather, the times. "Then paint gloomy weather," she answered. 

Once I would have blamed the muse for leaving, but I know better now. If you want the muse  to help, just start work.

As this idea came together from an early try at "happy" colors, the rainy, gloomy November day became a journey. There is gloom indeed, but there is also hope as the holidays come, as change comes to the nation.

I have also been experimenting with rough press paper, rather than cold, and found the extra texture intimidating to begin with. But today, it worked, adding impressionist touches, the first larger watercolor I've been satisfied with in quite a while.

Which means, in spite of the gloom, there is also hope. I think the painting tells that story, rain, gloom, but hope in the window.

"And let there be color..."

"Color," 5 x 7" watercolor, 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press paper

It's a gray, gloomy day in more ways than one.
Our state, nation and world reels from a pandemic, with news and alarm worse every day. Uncertainty pervades everyday life, from food shortages to medical crises and a looming economic depression that will harm ordinary citizens dependent on working income.
Even spring is uncertain, The sun refuses to shine as clouds crowd the skies and temperatures drop from shirtsleeve weather to "bundle-up-and-turn-on-the-furnace-again days
What the world needs now is more than "love," in the words of the song.
The world needs color, and that's what prompted today's watercolor.
Color is  a reconnection with creation. Consider, my translation of Genesis 1: 3. "Let there be color. and there was color." No light, no life. But life is color.
So here is some color to cheer you up.

From Gloom to Glory

"When color matters," 5 x 7 card

Short days, Cloudy skies. Dying embers of another year. Time to dwell on the passing of time and years and memories. Thoughts and regrets of hopes and dreams and opportunities missed or unfulfilled.  Post-holiday melancholy.
But then there is color, more vibrant, more glorious in contrast to the gloom. Colors, the exclamation points of light, source of life, of living--they burst with excitement, they call attention to what is not mundane or ordinary, they inspire hope for today, the next dawn, the next adventures and memories.
Witness the many comments and photos on recent sunsets in Oklahoma. 

"If winter comes, can spring be far behind?"

--Shelley, Ode to the West Wind 

Christmas Eve sunset, Oklahoma City

Color, and peace in a season of gloom

Color in a gloomy season, 5 x 7 watercolor card

As the days grow shorter, the nights longer, and the solstice nears, instead of a season of peace, gloom grows in December. 
 It can be a gloomy season  from gray days, from worsening weather, from "cabin fever," or worse, from events in our lives, from stress and clamor of the holidays, from personal interactions or tragedies, or from the negative forces in our world.

But then I force myself to remember, if it weren't for such times, color would lose its importance and power. In painting, or perhaps in all art and life and religion, contrasts bring life to the world. 

The idea, the existence of Christmas in religion, proves that, with the emergence of hope in a cold world, leading to a cruel death, resulting in life and peace--a far cry from the pollution of today's commercialized religion and season--more gloom needing to be offset by color, by life.
We need to remember the overlooked words from Genesis when Yahweh said, "Let there be light." Consider, light is the source of life--and color.  

Thus today's watercolor card...by and for myself, in  world far from peaceful, full of fear mongers in the name of religion--Pay attention to color more powerful and important, bringing peace instead of gloom

"My peace I give to you, not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your hear be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

--John 14:27.

December "Downs"

December Isolation, 5 by 7 watercolor card

Gloomy December days like this can bring "the downs," dropping moods like the temperatures--in contrast to the joy and "holidays" are supposed  to foster, now polluted with unending traffic and insignificant commercial hassle.
Then it is good to have coffee with a friend, explore a bookstore, play music, read, anything to fight off the isolation such weather seems to bring. 
Here's to a warm fire, a snug cabin, coffee, friends and loved ones, a cuddling cat or dog, music, a book, even a paintbrush or pen and a blank sheet of paper to help us find beauty, endure and survive.

(Day 17 of 31 December watercolors)