Winter has arrived. December is a time for Christmas cheer and sparkle, family and friends, and perhaps reflection as the year draws to a close. Then the fallow month of January before the first green shoots of spring herald a new beginning as nature continues its cycle of the seasons.
Many of us struggle with grey, damp days, but they can make us more appreciative of crisp sunny ones, encouraging us to wrap up and get outside. Recent walks on Dartmoor, my local chalk downland nature reserve, and in the New Forest, have taken place in blustery sunshine, mist and hoar frost, and soft sunshine radiating through leafless oak trees. These varying weather conditions highlight the wildness of the moor, with its few stunted trees sculpted by the wind, the beauty of winter stems and spiders’ webs laced with frost and shrouded in mist, and the dignity of ancient, venerable oaks, swathed in golden light.
Many works of art at RBC are inspired by the natural world, the imagination and sensibilities of the artist capturing a fleeting moment and creating a thing of beauty and permanence.
Sadie Brockbank MRSS - Deer Copse I (ceramic, 25 x 20 x 12 cms, £900)
Fiona Fouhy ARE - Emanate (monotype, 1/1, unframed, 53 x 45.5 cms, £800)
Antonia Salmon - Cloud that Drives the Storm (bronze, edition of 12, ht. 21 cms, £6,696)
Charlotte Mayer - Storm Bird (bronze, edition of 8, 52 x 44 cms, £8,000)
Flora McLachlan RE - A Forest (etching, 190/200, 29 cms sq., framed, £125)