Emerging; Lá le Brigid, 2015.

Emerging; Lá le Brigid, 2015.

To start the year as I intend to go on and establish a regular blog.  I'm taking the advice of a lovely encouraging friend Sinéad O'Donnell to do some more writing.  I've been wanting to do this for a while but the 'fear' and 'vulnerability' of putting my thoughts into words has up to now got the better of me.  I've never been confident about such things.  My brain tends to work much more comfortably in a visual format of communication.  Translating is therefore always a necessity for me, from visual to text.  There was a time when I was unable to communicate verbally and I eventually found being able to transfer messages through a visual format was an effective methodology of expression.  I have therefore included some imagery to share on this day, Lá le Brigid; Imbolc. 

 

I do love this time of year as we slowly enter Spring from the cold Winter. It is still showing signs of Winter amongst the fields. Making sure the birds have some nourishment is important and we continue this practice throughout the winter and spring. 

 

Today is also #WorldWetlandsDay we need to preserve our #WetlandsForOurFuture and #BirdLife. After driving around the local Lakeland's and Highland's, seeing #Nature slowly emerging is beginning to warm me internally, as its still cold out in the wilderness and I can't be out in it for a long time.

  

I love the shadows and reflections created here from the double imaging the water produces with the landscape. While I was at the lake I was lucky enough to spend time in the presence of two swans, paired and posed in the distance ready for the warmth that spring will bring. 

The swans existence, was reminiscent of W.B. Yeats poem 'Leda and the Swan' where he wrote about the duality of human nature, in Irish Landscape and Waterways. He was magically able to allow his thoughts and imagination to fall onto the fibers derived from the very nature, that conceived the birthing of some of his poetry.  Yeats spent many of his summers in the West of Ireland.

Ireland has now thankfully got a treasured heritage of artists and poets that have responded to the scenes and context of the country. Some of this contemporary poetry, can be found here; Contemporary Irish Women poets where Christine Murray has compiled a list of female poets for further reading. Its definitely worth checking out.

Losing light quickly I headed for the hills to give my dog a few different scents to take in before settling in for the evening.

The Moon peering through the trees then graced us with its presence to top this day of Imbolc off, to prepare us for tomorrow's Full moon.  

 

Raynaud's Disease with a long-term spinal injury doesn't mix so well with the cold or indeed any extremities but I do what I can and work really hard to not let this stop me.

There's a few previous topics that I intend to write about for other blogs, so watch this space.

Enjoy February and everything that it may bring, wherever you are.

Love and Light.

Kathy

Visual Artist. M.A., Art in the Contemporary World, N.C.A.D. 2013.