Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Winter Magic

So ...
is wishing for spring on the top of your list these days?
If it's been as snowy as it has here,
my guess is that the answer is a resounding yes!

Winter weather is on my mind this evening
as I type this post simply because
yet another snowstorm is on it's way ...
in fact the first of the snowflakes are beginning
to fall as I write (Tuesday night).
I will sleep through much of it, blissfully unaware,
and peer out at the magic in the morning.
The snow is supposed to continue through most of tomorrow, as well.
I remember winters that were "real " winters like this
when I was a kid but we haven't had this kind of weather
in many, many years.
In fact, January of this year broke all records of the
most snow ever recorded here.
I recently shared a few photos on Instagram
of one of the many snowstorms of this season
and since we're heading into another snowy night,
I thought you may enjoy seeing them here.

The following photos were taken on quite a magical night.
The snow had been falling hard all day.
As night fell and dinner seemed a good idea
with not a lot of food in the house,
the thought of driving out onto winter-slick roads
wasn't particularly appealing.
Luckily, the house is only a block from town where
a choice of restaurants were beckoning.
You can see from the photos that
 my charming town that has a New England feel to it
with many lovely historic homes.
Normally, when it's a snowy whirlwind outside,
the grown-up me views the beauty and fury from indoors.
On this particular night, however, a late evening walk
sounded like it just might be fun to be a kid again.
And it so was!

When there is that much snow on the ground,
the light is reflected so beautifullly, as you will see in the photos.
Everything seemed to glow all around
and I felt as if a Christmas card had come to life.
On this particular evening, even though it was after Christmas,
many homes still had their trees and outdoor lights up.
It was a magical evening and one that made me remember
to be a child more often
and "play" outdoors where magic is all around ...
all of the following photos are of the street  where I live
and were taken by me with my i-phone ...

I left the house bundled in coat, scarf, boots & gloves ...
but, the cement dog outside my door wore a top hat of snow ...










It looked quite peaceful in the previous photos, didn't it?
And it was ... it was so silent all around.
But ...
it was actually coming down like this the whole time ...
 

I'll remember that walk always, I think.
I'll have to remember how much fun snow can be
tomorrow when I wake and it's still coming down.
I admit that I do enjoy the snow more
because I don't have to drive anywhere in the morning ...
my studio is right here at home.
A walk is much safer territory than a drive in this weather ...
which always gives me white knuckles!

Since I've been sharing a few Instagram photos,
I'll share just a few more ...
in a moment of spring-craving I bought some
hot pink and lilac OPI polishes and went for the hot pink first ...
now I really do feel much more like spring just may appear
at some point!
 


I decided on February 1st that my
Instagram and Twitter friends were so special,
I wanted to post a "Valentine"  each day for
"Fourteen Days of Valentines."
These were the first four ... 


I'm sure you've probably discovered the Waterlogue app
if you're on Instagram, as many are posting photos
turned into iphone "watercolors."
As I'm an artist and illustrator, I thought I'd limit my
iphone versions of art to a minimum but did post
a Waterlogue photo of my living room ...



The following photo wasn't posted on Instagram
but it is the Waterlogue version of my pug, Lily.
Too fun!


I have quite a heavy workload of custom illustrations
this month, currently finishing one with a backdrop
of Tiffany & Company's Fifth Avenue store.
The new website is still underway, as well,
and will launch as soon as I have a few more things
created for the store.

What's been happening in your world?
Fill me in!

xo
Till next time!
SANDY M

OOH LA FROU FROU
is the blog of illustrator
SANDY M

For custom illustration inquiries
contact Sandy at
artistsandym@gmail.com

8 comments:

Mary Anne Komar said...

Those photos were indeed magical! The light was wonderful! What a memorable evening, stay warm! And thanks for sharing these treasures!

Anonymous said...

Being a New England gal myself, I would say your photos captured the essence of a New England snowstorm. How fun for those who have never seen snow to see it via your photos. We are getting buried alive in MA today.

Can't wait to see the new website and congrats on having so much work coming in! xo

A Very Sweet Blog said...

Sandy, when I saw your instagram pics of the amount of snow you guys got I was like good gawd!!! Inundated! Stay warm and I can see you're busy! But that's GOOD!
http://www.averysweetblog.com/

Unknown said...

Sandy you are a super busy lady but yet you always give us something extra special to read and view on your blog. For that we thank you! It sure has been quite a rough winter. I am certainly ready for a "Spring Break" with bright colors, blooming flowers and butterflies in the park. Let cardigan season begin. :)

Sending you some love and warm thoughts.
XOXO

Maria
http://www.onestyleatatime.com/

Vannessa@Luxuria said...

OMG Sandy!! Those images of where you live are things that dreams are made of. I have family that live in Switzerland and you would be hard pressed to tell the difference from your photos. I love the watercolor of your living also; so chic.
Have a lovely cosy weekend Sweets xx

Fashion-isha said...

The snow really is beautiful and that's what I say when I'm trying to make myself feel better about it! I'm ready for some heat!!
Happy Valentines Day love!
xo
Sharon

miss b said...

Those snowy photos are just magical. Walking in the snow admiring all the prettines is something I love to do - it's just the driving I can't stand! Your Waterloque image of your living room is fabulous - I keep meaning to download the app.
http://missbbobochic.blogspot.co.uk

Jovana Miljanovic said...

I really like this post :)

I just wrote a blog post about my bucket list, if you'd like to find out more, do check out my blog :)

http://jovanamiljanovic.com