Tag Archives: winter

Jigsaw puzzles for Christmas

Now that winter is coming I decided to augment my  VisibleTales puzzle store collection and made my winter landscape series available on 1000 piece jigsaws. The size is 20″ by 30″, that’s a lot of snow in blue and white :-).

The holiday shopping season has just begun, so if you are looking for a great Christmas gift for someone or just want to spend a few winter nights with putting together a challenging piece just click the images, they will take you right to the store.

Summary of my art print galleries

sailing-seven-seas

sailing-seven-seas

Sailing seven seas: a collection of 12 unconventional seascapes. Calm waters and stormy waves; tropical oceans and the Northern seas; deep blue, azure and dark waters, green seas and skies of imaginary worlds; nights on the open water with shining stars and moonlight; sailboats, tall ships, fishing boats, barques, brigs, schooners, tug boats, cutters and ketches; tales, legends, bedtime stories, pirates, dragons and other mythical creatures of the ancient seas.

the-wooden-jewelry-box

the-wooden-jewelry-box

The wooden jewelry box: twelve modern, rather abstract paintings inspired by the beautiful patterns and structures of trees, branches, twigs and the amazing color variations and textures of gemstones, crystals, minerals. Vibrant colors of the autumn forests and leaves; the pattern of bare winter branches against the blue sky; the deep, lively green of summer woods; weeping branches reflecting in the water of a placid lake. Maple, oak, elm, ash, birch, sycamore trees and pines –  if you like nature, especially old trees you really should check out this gallery.

skyscapes-and-horizons

skyscapes-and-horizons

Skyscapes and horizons: a collection of modern landscape paintings with a lot of hidden meaning to think about. The endless horizon and the constantly changing view of the sky and the clouds above the land and the sea. The different faces of the sky during daylight and nighttime: lively blue summer skies with white cumulus clouds; the darkness of the hanging storm; the peace of a silent snowfall; the magic of a clear, starry sky.

winter-is-coming

winter-is-coming

Winter is coming: my minimalist winter landscape series. Endless, snow covered lands; frozen lakes and rivers; snow laden, bare tree branches against the pale winter sky; aerials of the winter fields and river banks with hay bales, bridges, churches and barns; the northern ice fields with migrating caribous; the winter wonderland of a secret garden behind an old stone wall.  Herons, ravens, and the falling snow…

Inspiration for a minimalist winter landscape collection

My feelings about G. R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones stories are a bit…well, complicated.

I started to read the first book more than ten years ago and I loved it at first – it’s very intelligent storytelling about an amazingly interesting imaginary world with compelling, diverse characters all around.
And then Ned Stark was killed off in a way that made me refuse to continue reading… I mean, it was obvious from the beginning that it’s not one of those stories where everything turns good at the end and all the heroes ride into the sunset and live happily ever after. And I suspected when the Starks moved to the South that it will end very badly for him, but the emotional cruelness of the circumstances leading to his death knocked me out – at the end he was forced to give up his true self for nothing, just because he couldn’t accept the reality about some of his family members and friends.

old abandoned derelict tower bells under pale sky white light from above through the arches snow covered hills rolling first snow hay bales on the farm field with barn

old abandoned derelict tower bells under pale sky white light from above through the arches snow covered hills rolling first snow hay bales on the farm field with barn

I know that’s nothing uncommon, it has happened and will happen again and again in history and in our everyday lives (though, usually with less severe consequences ;-)), but somehow that anger I felt just made me not want to connect to the characters anymore. So – though I was very curious about how the story will unfold – I stopped reading.

Years later, when the series started on TV I couldn’t resist watching some episodes from time to time and I kept reading the news and spoilers to follow the story – but I always kept the distance, I just didn’t want to invest emotionally anymore.
Maybe, someday, I will start the books again…

lonely tree standing in winter snow top of the hill with a wolf in silent snowfall snow covered snow laden branches blue sky wind still garden gate wrought iron hedges

lonely tree standing in winter snow top of the hill with a wolf in silent snowfall snow covered snow laden branches blue sky wind still garden gate wrought iron hedges

Anyway, one of the details of Martin’s world that got my imagination was the idea of the ever returning severe winters of unpredictable length.

Where I live, winter weather can be rather erratic: some years we have only a few snowy days and the temperature is around zero; some years the country is covered with snow for weeks or months, with freezing cold.

winter sky with snowfall and snowflakes flying birds ravens crying crows forest behind the ice wall stone church fields misty fog lake shore through the clouds

winter sky with snowfall and snowflakes flying birds ravens crying crows forest behind the ice wall stone church fields misty fog lake shore through the clouds

I’m not a fan of cold, but I love snow – the first snow that turns the land into shades of blue and white; the silent snowfall overnight with huge snowflakes, sitting on my rooftop window so thick that I wake up in the morning to the unusual silence; I love to drink my morning coffee sitting by the terrace door looking out to the snowy garden and I love the days when the snow just keeps falling and eventually the city gives up, all traffic stops and life slows down. I love to cross the river walking over the bridge and stop for a while to watch the ice floes floating at the surface of the cold water; and going to the snow covered woods and fields for my daily running is one of my favorite things, especially when there’s no wind at all and all the branches and twigs of the trees are packed with heavy layers of snow.

winter sky with snowfall and snowflakes flying birds ravens crying crows forest behind the ice wall stone church fields misty fog lake shore through the clouds

winter sky with snowfall and snowflakes flying birds ravens crying crows forest behind the ice wall stone church fields misty fog lake shore through the clouds

(…I certainly don’t love snow when it’s transformed into the greyish mass that later hardens on the roadside so dense it can survive even the first few weeks of spring weather, but that comes with the package if you live in the city…)

And no matter how cold or snowy winter is, after around 4 month there’s always spring coming…

But what if we wouldn’t know how long next winter will last? What if it would stay for years, with short days and long nights, never ending snowfalls, frozen rivers and lakes; covering everything with a heavy snow blanket?

I had these questions and thoughts often on my mind while creating my winter landscape collection and eventually this gave the title of the series: Winter is coming…

 

All images are available as art print in different sizes in my store, with a 30 day money-back guarantee.