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I was so hoping to an auspicious begining to 2021 after the challenges of 2020 but the restrictions and separation continues. In these grim times how do we assuage the mounting anxieties we feel for relatives and friends, the desperate fear for those in hospital and exasparation for the world situation when we are stuck at home?
This third lockdown has its challenges. Firstly as I write we are shrouded in fog and ice so it is difficult to get out for exercise and the news is so serious that you almost can’t listen. At times like this I find that a bit of culture (and humour) is what we need to make sense of it all, to divert us or simply to cheer us up.
We instinctively like to find the good and beauty in the hardest of times and in the smallest of things and when we do it becomes more meaningful for us. So sunlight shining through the fog becomes the light at the end of the tunnel.
Or snowdrops peeking through the ground become symbolic of new beginnings and the coming spring.
I’ve welcomed the time to buy some new artworks which I know will give me lots of pleasure. Firstly the Open Exhibition at the RWA in Bristol (which has yet to open to the public because of successive lockdowns) is all online and this painting by the welsh artist Carys Evans reminded me of simple pleasures of the past like having tea in Waterstones. I like the mystery of the painting – there are two cups but she is on her own:
This small watercolour by Jane Askey reminded me of all the early morning walks down to a glowing greenhouse in winter and how beautiful late autumn can be even though it is bare and wet:
Finally a magical tree full of jewels, birds and all things happy by Charlotte Hardy:
I have so much enjoyed looking, choosing and receiving new work. In a time when I can’t help at all, at least I am supporting some artists.
We are all pinning our hopes on the vaccine and in the meantime will stay low. All exhibitions have now gone online. Let’s hope we can emerge gradually in the Spring with a greater appreciation of people, friendships and simple things.
