Some people walk in the rain, others
just get wet. – author unknown
Springtime rains are my most favorite weather,
and I have loved walking in that warm rain all my life. In fact, Jeff Desjarlais wrote a song about
it: “…can’t tell the raindrops from the paindrops, she loves walking in the
rain…” I am not sure how I figured it
out, as a small child, but perhaps because there had been some abuse and I
wished to be washed clean. It evolved
and, as an adult, I like to walk in warm rain to shut out the world so that I
could muddle through something I was working on, emotionally. It was a way, as I matured to wash away my
burdens. It has remained a balm to me. It is a way of communing with Mother Nature
in some ancient and primal way.
When I feel frustrated, and it is raining,
I find it a way to close myself off and walk in sheets of rain as a way to
clear my head and focus only on what frustrates me, and why. As a macro-influence, warm rain can realize
that there are things out of my control that can soothe me. There is that earthy smell just before that
kind of rain and then the gentle washing away of all smells but the heavy sense
of water and earth mixing. The stippling
of the rain keeps me present. The rhythm
comforts me (but what I love best of all, at night, is being in a canvas tipi
and hearing the steady soft drumbeat of the sky falls onto the canvas... ahhh,
heaven). Suddenly the sounds take over and the lack of any other background
noise allows open space for clearing negativity and focusing in on the
positive.
While most people would say rain is
depressing, the gray sky is saddening, and there is a melancholy sense to it,
it does not affect me in that way. I
have a sense of sky and earth being more one and I am one within it.
After drawing my painting in light pencil, I drew my painting in charcoal and then used a fine wet brush to blur the sharper lines.
I, then, sealed it better with clear
gesso.
I began blocking in colors.
The puddles were easier to do and I loved working to try to get them to look like puddles.
Rain on. Bring on the rain. I could use it right now.
Today is Wednesday – once called Wisdom Day. It is supposed to rain all day. Happily I am going outside to paint in under the gazebo top and listen to the rhythm of the rain..
I can almost smell the rain while reading this Carol. I also love rain, when I was a child I lived with my parents in the country and after a certain kind of rain (still a mystery to me what the special time of rain was), but my mother always knew when to take a bucket and we would go into the paddocks to fine fresh mushrooms all over certain paddocks. It seemed like a small miracle to me as a child. Also, in Australia, the first coming of the rain up north (they call it the 'big wet') puts a smell in the air which is unique.. I think it's a mixture of gum leaves and eucalyptus leaves and wet grass wafting on the breeze of where the rain has first passed. It's a smell I'll never forget.. "the coming of the rain smell". Currently I live in a house with a galvanised roof and the sound of the rain on the roof at night in winter is amazing to fall asleep with. (I should have written my own blog with all this writing). I love your blogs and your art steps.
ReplyDeleteThank you, my friend. And now, I spend these next nights with our hearts full of rain. xoxoxo
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