I keep the dock out all winter – a choice I’m questioning this winter. I have an ice eater – a small fan that moves under water to prevent freezing around the dock. But this year the temperatures are consistently so much lower and the winds so prevalent that Fred had to help me cut the ice away from the dock before the next storm, coming tomorrow.

Weather. I recall a wonderful Japanese art teacher who would comment on bad weather days: “Can you all feel it? It’s showing up in all your art.” We were doing watercolor at the time, so any movement of the hand and brush were left in evidence.

Up til then I’d never thought of weather as an influence, especially on my art. In fact, I tell people now that the winter months that keep my indoors for such long stretches are the best environment for me to get art done.

That said, I admit that today – with the big storm coming tomorrow – I feel off. I don’t look forward to tons of shoveling. But I know that when the snow comes and the shoveling is waiting to be done, I’ll be fine.

So, yes, external weather can be this THING to focus on and blame and talk about endlessly (that’s me). But it’s the internal weather that matters most. It’s that bad attitude that can really get in the way of my art. That’s the real killer.

I guess I have to let go of blaming the snow. I guess I need to find the warmth, the darn sunshine – or whatever – in my darn art.

Hmmmmm.

Clearly … I’m not there yet.