Sisyphean task

I hate new year, I hate the retrospection of it all. Every year has its ups and downs, the rough with the smooth and Im usually a half full glass type of woman but to be honest , this new years eve thing?, its always a Sisyphean task for me. I try to be upbeat about it, really I do but its just impossible to get that boulder of joviality untinctured with retrospection up the hill, despite having not many gripes about the year in itself . I am very thankful I still have all those I love around me and in good health too.

But generally, its the emphasis thats poured on the celebration of the forward movement of time???WHY??? if thats the case why not have it in the middle of the week and the middle of the day??? Or in Summer??Ive made my peace with New Years Eve, we dont like each other and walk on different sides of the street. And if people want to go out and party, (which is any excuse-) fine and I am more than okay with the psyche the general population having closure on bad times.

I think I am just getting old to be honest..

Silhouettes on an airing cupboard

When I was about 17 I became very ensconced in the world of Illustration,Reiniger, Konewka, Neilson, Clarke, Fitzpatrick, Mouse in short, a hoard of artists where mesmerizing to me despite the fact that I had not taken art as a module at school. Having an obsession about mythology and the supernatural as a child it was a natural progression that an Artist by the name of Arthur Rackham shone to me most of all, his work was striking and unique, and his use of color and shading compensated brilliantly for the limitations of color printing of the period.

He stood shoulder to shoulder with my favorite pre raphaelite artists(with whom I became obsessional around the same time). Picking up a copy of Sleeping beauty I was spellbound by his silhouette work , so much so I marched out to the shed and grabbed some black gloss and brushes and went to work on both doors of my room. The Airing cupboard and the back of my bedroom door. I was very pleased with the end result and to my surprise so was my mother when I had finished. But above all what struck me about his work was although delicate, charming and rich in detail it had a pervading element of the slightly sinister which quintessentially is the appeal for me.

This christmas period with the snow making me housebound I shall take a trip out to the shed, liberate some paint and brushes and try and reproduce the cupboard door once more.