Winter is coming...

Hi there!

The weather has been rather wintery these past days. Yesterday morning I realized that the magnolia tree that was still splendidly green a couple of days earlier had profoundly felt the change in temperature. Two images came to mind...one of a lady decked in jewels and the other, much more somber, of a very famous Italian poem about the fragility of life...

Si sta come d'autunno sugli alberi le foglie. Here we are like the leaves, in Autumns. So wrote the poet Giuseppe Ungaretti  referring to the condition of the soldiers in the trenches during WWI. They are really just barely hanging in there...

My in-laws have departed and returned to the warmer shores of Italy, we have had to take care of a few things in the house, and I am cautiously coloring my Sub Rosa drawing.
Soon I'll post what I have been doing so far...

Have a warm weekend everybody!

PS: I just realized I had the wrong title on for a while...I changed my mind half way through about what I wanted to talk about and then forgot to modify the title! ;)

Spring is here...the magnolia is blooming!

Finally, spring seems to have begun. OK, today the sky is all grey and heavy with rain, but the grass  is turning to emerald and  the first flowers are popping up here and there. Such a cheering sight!

Last October we moved to a new, bigger house so now we have a backyard...with a magnolia tree (a small one, though) in it. I did not realize it for quite a while, until somebody pointed it out to me and I was overjoyed. I adore magnolia trees. Where I grew up, we did not have them, but a few years ago I discovered them around town: smallish and shrub like (such as mine) or massive, old and majestic, all laden with luscious, gorgeous flowers in infinite variations of white, pink and cream. What a spectacle!
The magnolia has been my favorite tree ever since. At the time I even made a drawing, partially inspired by Enchanted Dolls, that celebrates them, Lady Magnolia.

I am told that it's pain to clean the mess when the flowers fall, but I don't care: the delight of seeing them every morning during the month of April is well worth the extra work. ;)

For weeks now, I have been keeping an eye on my beloved plant, at its furry gems (scientific name unknown to me!) green and tightly closed, tossed by the winds, covered in snow, hammered by torrential rains...and wondered when they would come to life. Yesterday, after a few days of sweeter temperatures the tree has awakened. The gems are opening! I so look forward to seeing what color and shape the petals are . From what I can see so far, it looks like they might be white, but...who knows...

...I'll keep you posted.

I am working on two new pieces, one for an italian contest about travels and one for my nephew Pit (but maybe I could also use it to enter another contest ;)). I'll post the WIP in a few days.

For now, be well and enjoy the delicate beauty of spring!