Celebrating the dark and the light

Finding creative opportunities during the darkest days

I’m sharing this post just before the winter solstice, on the day of the year with the fewest hours of daylight and the longest night. From Friday 22nd December in the Northern Hemisphere, Winter starts and the sun begins to rise higher in the sky each day.

It can be hard to find solace in these shorter days, when the sun at it’s lowest arc, but I try to find the opportunity afforded by winter to see my environment in a different ‘light’.

“I often think that the night is more alive and more richly coloured than the day.” 

- Vincent van Gogh

I’ve always been interested in the way darkness and artificial light can completely change an ordinary scene into something more dramatic and suspenseful and during these darker months I try and capture this by drawing outdoors during twilight or nighttime. When drawing outside isn’t possible, I take a photo and draw from the comfort of my sofa.