The first week of January is about in the books and those of us in KC got a pleasant surprise today. Snow! It’s still coming down so I recorded a bit of the big fluffy flakes floating down.

I am lucky to live in a multi-story century old home with a renovated attic space so the vantage point is nice for an outer sub-burbs view. I am relatively close to the downtown so you might think flora and fauna can be hard to find, but KC actually has a decent amount of green and some small local wildlife that make an appearance here and there, especially in the Spring.

Right now, though the trees are naked, they stand boldly like dark inky brush strokes on a fresh snowy canvas. We may not get an abundance of sun here in the winter, but we make up for it in widely variable weather week to week across all four seasons. There’s always something different so it’s not boring if nothing less!

Observing nature is important to my own artistic inspiration. We don’t have big mountains or massive lakes here in the heartland, so I look for beauty in the smaller details. The featured image of this post is from a winter a couple years ago.

It was a chilly winter day but I wanted to stretch my legs. So, I was slowly walking to a local coffee shop, trudging in my winter boots down the sidewalk when some bright colors caught my eye. The Fall oranges and reds were still plastered onto the ground as a fresh snow started falling. I took a snap. There’s nothing particularly special about it, I just loved the texture and color. Something you might try is taking a photo and creating a palette of the main colors from that photo and do a whole piece of artwork around it.

Lately, I’ve taken to creating small video snippets of things I find out in the world that make me feel calm. I included one in the post regarding my Sea Turtle art that you can see here. The world is often moving too fast, and there’s little time to stop and smell the roses. So, when I have time, I try to expand those experiences and capture my own little magic moments hehe. I find this helps with gratitude. Gratitude journals are everywhere and while I actually use one on occasion and do enjoy it; another way to appreciate the world is by using art to re-create your perspective – which will always be unique to you! That’s something to appreciate on it’s own.

When creating, think about what emotions you want to evoke? For example, watercolor feels airy and fluid, that medium lends itself especially well to creating a dream-like quality. In the video below it was the stillness of the world I was trying to capture; the simple beauty of falling snow on a quiet world. As someone with ADHD, my internal world is often loud and fast so appreciating the quiet is helpful for calming and slowing down.

There’s something lovely about snow isn’t there? The gentleness of their movement, the uniqueness of their design at the microscopic level, and yet the uniformity as they accumulate on branches and lawns. The contrast of that perfect smooth white against the backdrop of a textured and contrasting world. It’s divine.

And growing up in KC, winter spans roughly November through February here. So the snow symbolizes both the end of the old and the beginning of new. I love how that makes me think about transition and renewal. I look forward to the spring, but for now I’m just fine sipping on a hot cup of coffee and enjoying the snow fall.

Happy New Year!