January Stillness

 

 

January Stillness

Hello all, and Happy New Year~

The rush of the holidays is now over, and the houses are covered with a blanket of snow. The world lacks color right now. The little pleasures of life are smells and tastes, rather than sights. Outside the smell of crisp, cool air is quickly replaced by the sweet sap of burning firewood and the spice of a warm cup of tea. The days are short and the darkness long. It is a time of stillness, of rest, of recovery.

Here at Copper Leaf Studios it is a time of planning and organizing, of dull administrative necessities, and of full body exhaustion, no longer content to be ignored. The holiday season builds to a frenzy I cannot fathom at any other point of the year, and sometime during the week between Christmas and New Years the cup gets depleted. (Somewhere around this time emails are answered “You don’t need it til February? Oh thank GOD.”)

But the stillness doesn’t last for long. The hot little embers of ideas start to spark, and pretty soon a warm excitement fills the air. Downtime will do that to you. It is a precious commodity, indeed.

This will be a year of excitement, and challenge, and wonder. It will be a year of long-term projects, and major installations. Of trying new techniques and streamlining others. It will be a year to create the single largest piece I have ever made — 28 feet! — until someone surprises me by wanting something even larger. A year for dreaming big! And to doing big, because it is not enough to dream. And for taking a deep breath, to exhale the tired and worried and anxious and to breathe in the fresh scent of possibility.

Here’s to 2013 ~ and to sharing the journey.

Until next time,

Chris