Dread Persephone
/Persephone is the Goddess of Spring. Looks like she is coming.
Like anyone after a winter, I’m really looking forward to doing all outdoors things like walks, bike rides, grilling, etc. This year however, I am a little trepidatious about what else is coming with the Spring. As people start to move into a post-Covid lockdown world, that means saying goodbye to a lot of what I loved about the last year. Working from home, quite, no commute and more gym time.
In all the solitude of the last year I both re-recognized a potentially glaring character flaw, and decided not to beat myself up about it. With the exception of family and friends…. I love being alone. I learned this years ago after spending hours and hours alone on a bike, riding the trails of southern Minnesota. But after moving to Sioux Falls I had to network for the career. I was a board member of this and then of that. Lots of meeting for drinks and luches… blah blah blah. While I met a lot of wonderful people, and found some of the best opportunities of my life, I desperately missed solitude.
After a year of being around far fewer people, my faith in the Lord is stronger (because who else could I talk to), my blood pressure is down, I actually have a deeper appreciation for friends, family, the richness they give life, and my general disposition is just better. I’m sure that if I didn’t have a wife that is genuinely so much fun to be around, I may have a different opinion. Because even after the best days alone, I always look forward to when she gets home from work. But all-in-all, I’m really warming to the thought of embracing the fact that I am at my best when I am not always around people.
The image is drawn from using a stock photo by magikstock as reference.
Watercolor on Moleskine stock. Digital painting touchups. This may be the last time I use watercolor on this substrate though. When I started doing that, I loved the unique look of how the color would react with all the layers of clearkote used to keep the paper relatively safe from warpage. But it is so labor and time intensive to apply and reapply both color and clearkote just to get to the point where an image really starts to be discernable, let alone finished. So I think I am probably done with that process for a long time.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the fresh air, budding plants, and sunlight as much as I will.