38th Entry - of ice and snow

I am fortunate enough to be able to experience all of the seasons here without a gross amount of discomfort, its actually really quite wonderful even with it's challenges.

And so it is very much a winter now in these parts, a land of ice and snow, but to an artist using natural medium its a literal wonderland full of opportunity when just a tiny bit of very old technique is applied.

Using ice and snow - thousands of crystallized water molecules - in a slow leeching process that can only be done in freezing cold temperatures (as illustrated by placing some chili onto fresh snow for about six to eight hours)

I believe in the stillness of this season, its perfect quiet at times and what it provides for the soul, a period of reflection. Not even a pool of water can reflect on its surroundings until it is still. And how delicate these flowers of winter, the snow flake and icicle are, how fleeting and momentary in the rotation of all the other seasons.
I used to make a mortar bowl out of ice to keep the color  but found that in time and even with the smallest ebrasion the pigments would water down too rapidly even from the heat of my gloved hand so now i use a regular ramekin for more control here I am using it to draw out the brilliant colors of chili pepper, thyme, nutmeg and paprika mixed in percentages specifically to produce ambers and such.

The piece is still underway I will be sure to post more soon once Ive named her, Im waiting for it to cool down so I can do more installments. 'icicle' by tori amos was in part some of the inspiration for the piece you can hear that here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjrUBvcAZY8 once the colors are drawn from the spices they are painted onto the canvas using only natural ice, lord knows this time of the year we have plenty of it :)

 - stay tuned for more updates on her and more on my inspiration for the piece and process.

Thank you for reading :)