sun

Yesterday and today, the clouds disappeared from the sky, leaving us the blue sky -- along with very cold temps. The past two mornings have been at 1 degree (F). On days like this, I wish I could draw and paint what I see, the light, harsh and unfiltered, spotlighting at severe angles the frozen earth, the snow, the barren trees, the structures we have erected. Particularly branches and exposed sides of buildings appear as hungry beggars, pushing forward in the crowd to get the light's exposure, crowding out the darker areas.

And with snow on the ground, there are also the long, soft shadows, laying across the snow, dividing the more brilliant patches facing the sun.

They say we will get snow off and on the rest of the week -- which means, I suppose, that this gift, this intense sunlight will retreat again behind the mucky, gauzy gray clouds.