A Lincolnshire morning
I love this time of day, especially when it seems as though I am the only one out and about.
The sun hadn't even risen, just a hint of the beautiful sunrise to come. A rosy, apricot pink glow reflected in the clouds, mingling with bruised purples and mauves across the sky. The world was slowly waking, but just for a little while longer I hugged it to myself.
I walked along the track before coming to the lane. Step by step I went, inch by inch the sun rose, bringing with it the promise of a new day.
Crows strutted and squawked across the land, their dark silhouettes moving against the softening light. After days of strong winds, the copse felt eerily silent this morning. No rustling branches, no leaves dancing in the breeze. Just stillness.
There's something wonderful about watching the sun rise. Something I never want to take for granted, and something I am forever grateful to witness. No matter how many sunrises I see, there is always that moment of quiet wonder. The feeling that the day, still so new, holds so much promise.
I stood for a while, committing the image and the feeling to memory. The colours, the stillness, the sense of being present in that moment. Some things I photograph, others I sketch, but there are times when I simply want to stand and take it all in, hoping that somehow I will carry a little of it home with me.
And then, as I walked home, rounding the corner, the sun appeared in all its golden glory. Shining through the branches, illuminating everything it touched.
I noticed the field maple seeds, those little helicopters as I always think of them, hanging from the branches, their delicate shapes glowing in the morning sunshine.
I smiled.
It's moments like these that remind me why I keep looking, why I keep walking, why I keep trying to capture something of the natural world in my paintings. Nature paints so effortlessly, with colours that melt into one another, light that transforms the ordinary into something extraordinary, and a quiet confidence that I can only hope to learn from.
Just a few little seeds catching the morning sun, and yet somehow, they made my day.