Winter Wonders
Charles Saxon, The New Yorker cover, January 1976
There is magic in a winter landscape. For me, it is the stillness; it is how the softness of sound muffled by the snow feels like a warm embrace and how light reflects off the myriad of sparkling snowflakes that have joined as one in a beautiful blanket of white, making everything more - more luminescent, more colourful, the best version of itself.
I love hiking in the snow, taking in the crisp freshness mixed with the unbridled joy of our dog. I love watching the winter landscape at dusk, when the sky is that particular shade of winter pinks, blues, and reds, and the warmth inside is all the cosier for the frosty magic outside. And there is nothing better than waking up to the gentle cascade of snowflakes outside your window, cup of coffee in hand - just like Charles Saxon’s 1976 cover of The New Yorker (above)!
Emma Haworth, As Night Falls, circa 2010
Each of us perceives the winter landscape in our own way but few remain impartial to its charms. What is your favourite part of the winter landscape?
Here are just a few takes on the winter wonderland by various artists over the years - arranged day to night rather than chronologically.
L. Birge Harrison, Frosty Morning, circa 1900
Wassily Kandinsky, Winter Landscape, 1909
Randolph Hewton, Village on the Lower St. Lawrence, circa 1925
Levan Lagidze, Winter, 2018
Rockwell Kent, The Trapper, 1921, Whitney Museum of American Art
Nicholas Roerich, St. Sergius the Builder, 1925
Konstantin Gorbatov, A Winter's Day, 1934
Dmitry Kustanovich, Frosty Morning, 2020
Victoria Crowe, Winter Garden, circa 2000
Maggie Rowe, Cows in a Snowstorm, 2012
George William Sotter, Silent Night, 1932
Werner Berg, Farm Life in Winter, 1964, Werner Berg Museum
Mariya Golub, Quiet Corner, 2023
Eyvind Earle, Yosemite, 1994
Valerius de Saedeleer, Winter Landscape, 1931
Franz Sedlacek, Winter Landscape, 1931
Mamuka Dideba, Night of the Fireflies, 2008-2011 (fireflies are often associated with summer but you can see Winter Dark fireflies in the winter!)
And how could I not include a photograph of our Entlebucher, Bolt, in the snow? Here he is, right next to a wonderful woodblock print by Kawashima Tatsuo (b. 1939 - ).
Wishing you joy, lightness, and beauty. Happy New Year!!!