On headaches and owls and violets

Don’t remind me that I sometimes say that I find the rain in Vancouver romantic in that Blade Runner sort of way. I’m so not feeling that right now.I can’t remember when I last saw the sun. (I think there may have been a day last week.)Walking and the weather have been gloomy and I’ve spent most of my time working inside.The good thing about rainy weather is I feel like getting some art work done and that’s very good for me. Also days like this have a drop in barometric pressure and that sometimes means a headache settles in and last a few days and actually I find it impossible to concentrate on anything but art.The other day I brought home some salmonberry branches and found some violets in the garden. I sketched them on some music paper.I get into moods of wanting to sketch or paint and then I start to look for some creative ways to express the art work. Lately I’ve been completely in love with some old music sheets. Some of the paper is very old and has been held together with scotch tape which has long ago lost its grip and has left beautiful golden marks on the paper.For any purists out there who want to preach acid free and archival quality at me, I know. I’m not so interested in having a sketch or painting last the centuries as I am in saving or at least extending the life of ephemeral objects, like this music paper; of breathing new life and new beauty into it and of composing a symphony of sorts using the tools which I know how to use.Over the last couple of weeks I’ve sketched a dozen small flowers in watercolour, pencil, ink and chalk on different sized sheets of the music paper and mostly sent them out to friends. Today I was looking thru my photographs from West Cottage at Christmas and I remembered the barn owl who lives there.Today I sketched him swooping down from his barn in chalk, charcoal, ink and silver. I think I’ll carry on.