Snow in Spring

I decided to paint the snow on the trees by where we keep our horses. The woods were something out of a fairytale, so white. I'm on a bit of an Eyvind Earle kick so I decided to be inspired by his style for this. It was so nice to break out the paints again. I can't remember the last time I painted properly (I wish I could because I've lost my easel. How can you lose a massive great easel, who does that!?) I really enjoyed making this piece.

Anyway, be on the look out for unicorns, because as I'm sure you know, they can only be born in spring snow.

A Lesson From Bees

I heard a story about bees recently, it was something like this:

After the queen bee has laid her eggs in their little cell, she seals them with wax. The larvae grow inside their cell, and eat the food stores inside, until they mature into a bee. When they are ready they force their way out of the wax seal. The wax is really tough so they are only able to make a tiny hole in it, and then they have to squeeze their way out. It's agony. In the process of forcing their body's through the small sharp gap, however, the memrbane covering their wings is pulled away so that once they emerge they are able to fly.

Once, a moth got into a hive and ate all the wax seals. When the bees were ready to hatch they crawled out of their cells quite happily, easily, but they did not lose the membranes covering their wings so they were unable to fly.

Sometimes we have struggles in life, hard times that are painful for us. But it's through those trials that we grow, refine, and undergo changes that can in the long run enable us to fly. So grow, break free, and fly.

Mad March Hare

I'm having a bad hare day. I mean, look at him, he just looks mad. He was just chewing away on his foot and then he caught me drawing him, and glared. I backed away slowly, and he went back to filing his nails, but I could not shake off the chill of that look for some time.*

I haven't seen any hares recently, but March certainly has gone mad this year. We seem to be able to have all four seasons in a day; sun, rain, snow, hail and wind. There's also a comet about. I tried to see it last night but there was a strip of cloud that continualy blew right across where it should be in the sky. I am hoping for better luck this evening. It will be a little bit below the moon. If you miss it however, there's this brilliant time-lapse from Mexico. Enjoy!

*I may have made this up.

Original photo by Peter Denness, winner of the UK Wildlife Photography Award 2011