Little Embers in grim times
A few thoughts on the little things that cheer me up in spring...Lesser Celandine and the Goldcrest
Mairead Mc Guinness, Danu Fine Art
3/3/20262 min read
There is something special about drawing little parts of nature to scale. The Goldcrest is only 9cm long and its tiny skull is only 2.4cm long and 9mm high. and in the absence of having a goldcrest skull, its only when you draw it, can you appreciate just how tiny it is...smaller than my (already small) thumbnail!
Its been such a dull and rainy couple of months and spring is not bursting into bloom as quickly as normal... The lesser celandine is usually the first native flower I see in February, but in my rural and messy garden, it hasnt bloomed yet. Im dying to see them burst into cheery yellow flames... but for now they are little burning embers...encased in green...
Lesser Celandine flowers remain closed on overcast days and only open after a good few hours of dry, bright weather. The outer side of the petals are green, leaving no indication of the flash of yellow, burning behind the closed bud. And the goldcrests in my garden are also lying low, I would usually see them in the morning, flitting down through the tall evergreens on the North side of the house.
On top of the incredibly dull weather, the disastrous global events and eroding democracy and decency is leaving me feeling vunerable, alarmed, and unsettled, quietly panicking about how I prepare my kids for what looks like a wartime era of austerity, food shortages, deeper inequality, habitat degradation, unchecked AI, and the unpredictable and inevitable climate fallout. All compounded by the pure lack of empathy and decency that is now trending and normalised in the ever expanding right wing of the world.
When it finally stops raining, the polytunnel is getting a new cover...i can grow some food and feel more resilient and in control over our basic needs ... but in the meantime...the only thing I can do... is keep drawing. And on the subject of spring... which is usually a burst of yellow, Im happy to dream up this little picture, marking our rainiest February, and reminding myself that the little flames of spring are still there... theyre just burning away quietly...waiting to pierce the gloom.
