Snowmageddon-What to Do When the World Turns White

This morning's internet news called it a 'Snowmageddon"....We live in Maryland and the world did indeed turn WHITE. The never ending hours of snow felt like we were sheltered within a Glass Snow Ball; you know the ones you shake and snowflakes fall gently over the scene in circular swirls. A few hours of fairytale life!

QUESTION: What should a compulsive personality do cloistered within the furies of a white-out blizzard that lasts for days? Curl into a soft chair, cuddle inside that special quilt reading that book you have been dying to get to; go on a baking frenzy maybe unopened Jamie Oliver cookbooks; clean out closets (ugh); call long distant friends; play games with children (ours our gone); rent half a dozen videos; watch football (2nd ugh); cook Indian food in the tajine: stare at the television weather report all day seeing what is going on in your own world (3rd ugh); or dive into the painting studio.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

But first I just have to share the world we woke up to this morning after the SNOWMAGEDDON.    The furious storm stopped as quickly as it began, as fast as it started, the last humble snowflake tumbled to the earth; the midnight sky sparkled with millions of stars through the clear air;  the thin crescent moon sent a feeble ray of rippled light onto the snow and the temperatures DROPPED! 

But come SUNRISE and the world was AMAZING, CLEAN, PRISTINE, DEEP BLUE SHADOWS CAST UPON THE PUREST OF WHITE.

Our world upon arising...deep angles of purplish blue slashing through the pure white. Love the dash of red on the door across the street!

 

Up Stairs, Down Stairs, which way would you go?

 

 Remnants of our Prayer Flags whipping in the cold air...not as cold as Tibet however! These will be preserved in an Art Journal for protecting our home and the example of perseverance!

Our little pond keeps bubbling away, forming an exquisite ice sculpture on its own. Is our adopted frog hibernating under this stillness?

 Our little world  is peaceful, when many places in the world are not. I am grateful for this presence of calm, dignity, seclusion, and freedom from normal routine.

So what did a compulsive, Type A girl do:

   PAINT   PAINT  PAINT  PAINT  PAINT

Here is a RARE Peek into my Studio of Compulsiveness.

  

Looks like some SERIOUS STUFF happened around here. Dare not show what is on the floor around and under my chair!  But elsewhere on the floor, drying are.....

Lots of experimental portraits done in many different mediums. They are painted on various papers and will be bound into a journal...when we get another snowstorm.  Art materials used: acrylic, black water soluble pencils, oil sticks (my favorite), pastel, oil pastel, water soluble crayons, pan pastels...just simple experiments!

Got back to an oil painting I have been diddling with for ages...decided to over draw with oil sticks. Oh, why oh why, did I put these wonders of oil paint in a stick like a magical crayon away in a drawer to be forgotten. They are pure genius!

BUT THE SECRET BE KNOWN, THIS IS WHAT REALLY GOT ME THROUGH ALL THE PAINTING SESSIONS, ENDOWING ME WITH FETES OF ENERGY!!!!