Trees, grass, leaves, sunshine. All things that blossom in spring. Not only in nature, but also in humans. Winter is depressing and makes people groggy. Spring rejuvenates and puts a bounce in our steps. The days become longer and brighter, and so do our personalities. The change from snow to sun, from cold to warmth, and from bare trees to flourishing leaves on every tree.
Kari is taking this all in. She’s an artist, an expert with pencils. Colored or lead. Sitting beneath a tree in a meadow not a mile from her house, she sits silently without making a mark on her paper. She sits like this for at least 15 minutes, then she slowly makes a line on the paper.
Lines, dots, shading, edges, curls, and waves all form together into a brilliant picture. Two trees surrounded by a field littered with flowers. A tire swing limply hangs from a branch connected to a tree. She opted to do this whole drawing in black and white. Color was special, but not for this picture. At the top, she writes, “Before”.
She turns a page, and replicates her previous picture on the fresh page, only now in color. The tree’s and grass jumped with green, the occasional flower lit up with blues, reds, violets, and yellows. The black tire was the only dull color. Bright blue sky filled with clouds covered the top, and the brown tree trunks blended splendidly with the green and blue. At the top of this picture, she writes, “After”. The difference between her two pictures is the same as when winter morphs into spring. Spring brings color, and the dullness of winter is left behind.
