*John Ruskin, The Elements of Drawing and Perspective, Everyman Library, J M Dent and Sons, London, E P Dutton, New York, reprinted 1912.
...pond 2... confronted by a flourishing hawthorn and by newly sprouting or planted trees with pointed leaves... on a sunny windless evening... i'm tempted just to look, and even to draw, instead of writing...
...but, finding that my ability to observe and to draw is not up to Ruskin's, i return to writing whatever happens nearby,... (which intention, and ability, are in better accord)...
...oh, the air is so fresh, i feel as if i'm breathing the west wind... but no, the high wispy clouds are moving south, and at ground level there is no wind... leaves are moving only a few millimetres, if that...
...several parakeets have just flown overhead, from which i learn to recognise their screechy cry... and a blackbird appears on the path before me and then flies up into the trees to sing... and now a magpie walks within a metre of where i am sitting...
...however, spontaneous or contrived, it was a joy to explore... alongside the stream (from the Vale of Health Pond) which i thought was too overgrown to get near to...
...the sun is setting through the trees... i'll go home now and put this online straight away... (or as soon as i've sent out the next daffodil)...
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© 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 john chris jonesIf you wish to reproduce any of this text commercially please send a copyright permission request to jcj at publicwriting.net
