Snowmen, sculpture and more snow!!

All of a sudden early this afternoon the snow was just perfect to make snowmen...the temperature had raised to above freezing and the snow got a bit slushy and easy to mold...so out I went and made my local snowperson...coals from the wood stove, an old local carrot nose, James's scarf and hat, arm branches from the nearby spruce....making snowmen is not as easy as you think if you have never made one...quite hard to get them round...not as easy as you see in the movies where you just start rolling a ball and all of a sudden you have the perfect shape...na ah...it takes a lot of frigid fingers and considerable manipulation of the frozen stuff.

Cheeky me went out at dusk and used the flash...I just love how it makes the snowflakes look...I have to tell you when it snows at dusk it is one of the most beautiful things in the world, I just love it, everything gets so blue and silent...I think the blueness actually comes from ultraviolet but I may be making that up!!

Looking through the icicles hanging from the eaves at James' sculpture "Leap, run leaping"...it doesn't look like it but I took this photo at about 11AM...awfully dark isn't it??

The sculpture from the 'back' showing the snow covering sliding down and revealing that lovely red edge......

...and here the delicious curve of the snow which swoops and piles just like sand dunes

...masquerading as a shark!!

...and with a perfect line of snow silhouetting the top edge...there's the flash again!!

Almost a white out!

This one is my favourite, it really captures the feel of the driving snow. I love snowfall...I am not so keen on snow when it has fallen but as it is falling it is magical and enchanting and makes me feel like a kid again.

IN THE DEEP MID WINTER by Christina Rossetti, sister of Dante and muse to the Pre-Raphaelites...first verse and my favourite Christmas carol

In the deep mid winter
Frosty wind made moan
Earth stood hard as iron
Water like a stone
Snow has fallen, snow on snow
Snow on snow
In the deep mid winter
Long ago.

Mystical golden beauty abounds!!

"The Silent Arrival of Memory"

Isn't this truly amazing?, and it ISN'T Photoshopped. That really is a golden ball floating, at average eye level, above a mystical temple in a land far, far away....
This is a detail photograph of James' latest obelisk sculpture, which can be seen below in it's full and awesome glory. It is part of a series of "story" sculptures that he has been working on for the last two years. Using the technology of microchips, electromagnets and rare earth magnets he has floated this golden sphere above the 24 carat gold leafed main body of the sarcophagus/small temple below.
The obelisk base has subtle relief surface sculpture and a stairway leading to a mysterious entrance beautifully painted in a chalk blue that fades towards the top of the column. James says that he likes to imply mystery in these sculptures, relying on the observer to imagine themselves into this mystical world.
IT IS A BEAUTIFUL SIGHT TO BEHOLD and I feel so honoured to be able to gaze in wonder at this everyday and share it with you through my blog!

A beautiful snowfall in Maine!

"Viewmaster" by James Strickland

Snow piling up under the spruce tree
Our house hunkering down for the storm

"Girl Facing North East" by James Strickland

My "Abbey" mandala...I love the way the snow is sticking to the mandala in a really nice pattern, it's a nice sticky snow that would be perfect to make either a snowman or an igloo if one were so inclined....I would make the effort for a snowman IF it were just a little warmer.

There'll be a lot of digging out tomorrow...what joy!!!

"Story of the Yellow Emperor" by James Strickland

James created this box as a touchstone for the myth of the Yellow Emperor, Huang Di, patron of Taoism, inventor of the principles of Chinese medicine and possesor of many gifts of wisdom and knowledge. He reigned from 2497 BC to 2398 BC. The box is made with the chinese cedarwood salvaged from an antique tea caddy, it is gilded with 24k gold leaf, lined with Japanese patterned washi paper and is filled two hand lettered packets of Omani frankincense and Yemeni myrrh.

It looks so lovely in the mellow glow of candlelight and reminds me of the movie "Lost Horizon" which I used to watch again and again with my Mum when I was little. The thought of a mystical city in the Himalayas fascinated me and this sculptural box looks like the city in my mind, I hope my photographs do it justice!

Bronze tiles and Plum Blossoms

Here are a couple of photographs of James' (my partner) new work which he just finished, he took his inspiration for these two tiles from an antique Japanese iron kettle. The sculptings you see here will be turned into molds from which bronze tiles will be cast by our friend Jay Gibson at Metaphor Bronze in Morrill, Maine. Whilst he is imagining them as tiles I am thinking about them as chocolate bars!!!