This is the time of the year. Friends keep sending me photos from Germany, Switzerland, northern France, Austria… Almost all of them pictures of SNOW. People know about my deep longing. Snow is what I miss most, living on an island where winter is mainly mild, grey and wet. Newly fallen snow evokes this deep eternal sense of quiet joy and peace in me, the kind of peacefulness I wish for everyone to enjoy in 2019.
Having moved from Germany to the UK, I have exchanged one desire for another: living by the sea instead of walking through winter wonderlands. Both precious to me. Water in different states.
Snow has a magic quality to it. A quietness unshaken by the world’s appearance. Peace and stillness in the midst of all turmoil. Snow transforms. Snow reunites what seemed separate in a soft, innocent and gentle way. Snow rejects nothing and embraces everything by sending its gentle helpers down to earth – snowflakes, none alike, each perfect in its very own fragile appearance. Snow creates hidden messages, speaks to me in signs, reminding me of Japanese symbols, timeless narratives, told over and over again since the beginning of time. Snow creates the most tender poems, the quietest paintings – the ones I could spend endless time looking at. The Transformation of form and colour, from a wide and often wild range to a reduced spectrum of whites and greys. The enchanting winter light of Snow whispers ‘hush’ to a busy, restless world. Its surface offers the metaphor of an almost empty slate, inviting me to take a step back and rest, allowing the power of creation to recreate what needs renewing. It is as if nature is gathering strength under the veil of snow before it sends out its tender messengers of change – snowdrops – to awaken a longing for spring in me.
