Detour

Meeting of Ways K Howell 2012 Pastel on Paper (Very Small)

     Summer is full of longer, more circuitous routes. Even our broadband is on holiday. I don't think it's the heat.
     A short drive home from a camping trip became an exciting day-long exercise in finding a way off a vehicle-mosaic M road. Probably beautiful and sparkly from the circling helicopters' point of view. On ground level, more of a study in passive/aggressive driving. But I digress.
     Work on larger pieces has stalled. In the short term, I'm doing tiny studies when the English summer will allow.
     Detours give us the opportunity to come at things from a new direction, with a new perspective. The trick is probably in keeping sane whilst time slides past And We're Not There Yet...

And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.
 (As You Like It , the Bard)

Obstacles

Through K Howell 2011 Pastel on Paper 21 cm x 14 cm

      Summer is here. Vegetation is rich and luxuriant. There are midges. Humans accustomed to several layers of clothing throw caution to the wind and expose their torsos and legs to the briefly magnificent sun. This is all very distracting. Disturbing. Sometimes frightening.
     A good time to retreat to the trees.
     Looking at this quirky beech, contemplating obstacles, I remember Robert Frost. The best way out is always through. While patience and persistence are very admirable, they're not terribly exciting qualities to cultivate. But three seasons later, I'm still rewriting. Is this wise? I've no idea, but certainly it's an education. The earlier draft is a bit bloated, dizzy with sun, running naked in several directions. Oblivious to the aesthetic implications of its activity. Sigh.