Spring is finally here!
One of the advantages of living in this fantastic location is how we get to enjoy four distinct seasons. Winters are short but cold with temperatures plunging to minus 15c but bright sunny days, the odd week or two of proper snow (yes, we have a ski resort just up the road) and as soon as March 1st comes around, temperatures begin to climb and by mid month we can expect to start digging out t-shirts and shorts.
March 1st here is celebrated with old Pagan rituals, fertility symbols and traditions of throwing off the winter and looking forward to new life and new harvests. Plum tree blossom and migrating storks return, grape vines are trimmed and the expectations of good health and prosperity are distributed amongst friends and neighbours with red and white wristbands, worn until the sight of the first stork, then tied to a branch of your favourite blossom tree. School children can be spotted wearing dozens of these wrist bands to indicate their popularity amongst friends and even the most conservative businessman or politician will usually reveal one or two of these adornments tucked away under cuff-linked crisp starched shirts. Greece and Romania also celebrate the “Baba Marta” recognition of the end of winter with red and white colours everywhere.
The light begins to brighten as the days lengthen, and the purples and blues of the crisp, cold landscape begin to assume a slightly warmer hue – vivid greens and yellows, speckled meadows and pink blossoms lit by a warm sun mean it's time to get out of the studio and en plein air again – to work amongst the cuckoos and plethora of busy insects. House martins and swallows will make their appearance in another few weeks, then the first golden aureoles will arrive to add their almost tropical call to the nightingales song.
Nothing beats painting spring landscapes – skeletal trees creaking with new growth, shortening shadows and reflected warmth make this a very special time to paint. Get out of the four walls that have confined you for the last three months and breath some clean, fresh air that makes life worth living.