Poster Image
$20
Item#: 2005SYR01
Purchase Details
11x17-inches, printed on heavy weight (100-pound) Hammermill cover paper. We package each print with a piece of chipboard in a clear plastic sleeve.
You also receive…
An information page with photos of the artist and poet, and hand-written comments from each.
Medium- and large-format posters are available by custom order. Contact us for details.
Poem Inspiration Location
Nature's Gift of Snow
poster information
Description
Nature's gift of snow
allows us to slow our pace,
take time to reflect
I love winter. And I always giggle to myself as I hear people complain about it so much. But I've always lived in a northern climate, and my fondness for it stems from making snow tunnels, igloos, castles, angels, and of shoveling snow—still my favorite household chore.
As an artist, I'm fascinated by snow's ambiguity: the delicacy of its floating flakes in contrast with dangers it presents as it accumulates.
And I really do use winter as a time to catch up on things. Tending to overextend, I love the acceptable excuse snow provides for me to say, “I think I'll stay home tonight.” Then I can curl up with a book or write more—freely do some of the things I don't allow myself time for as much as I would like.
I decided to illustrate the haiku that was about winter because that's the majority of the year here. During bad weather people tend to hang out in coffee shops more often. They read more often and discuss things more and I think that is a positive of being trapped inside on a snowy day. This haiku brought to mind the environment in a coffee shop on such a day.
I went to the Coffee Pavilion and talked to a local businessman. He was reading the paper and I asked him if I could take his picture for reference. His wife is an illustrator so he was very nice about it.
I basically drew him how he was but I made it winter outside (it was still fall) and I added details like the pile of his belongings on the table to make it whimsical.