Not gonna lie, I spent most of last week playing in the snow. On Monday night, I was delighted to see that it was starting to settle. Last time this occurred, I happened to have gone to sleep early and missed all of it, as it was gone by the morning. So this time, there was no way I would miss it. With my flatmate Maddie, we went out and met up with my boyfriend Jaeden in Balgay Park, where we threw snowballs at each other and built a demented Elmo snowman. Here are the cursed images that followed.
Little did we know what was to come. As the snow begon to pile up the following day, it took little time before we realised that this was no simple dusting. We quickly came up with a plan: our next expedition would be up the Law. Once the troops were gathered, we headed to Jaeden's and began our journey up Dundee's very own Kilimanjaro. We stayed out for hours and it was the most fun I have had in a while.
And I’m primarily a landscape painter after all, so I suppose this counts as research...
However, it did not take long for the snow to start turning to sludge and for my child like wonder to be replaced by frustration and a (mild) sense of responsibility. So I started looking up reference images for my painting of the burning of the Note Dome. A few of them are ones I took myself, as well as ones taken from Google Maps, at the location I watched it from. But most are ones taken by others, as well as paintings of the Cathedral before the fire - and ones of the burning of the Notre Dame de Reims, which occurred during WWI.
I also made this small wax sculpture of Jaeden, to which I attached the gold hoop earrings I hade gotten him for Valentine’s Day (I’m great, I know).
Next week, I would like to work on a painting of the snow, as it was a moment that I would like to cherish and focus on. It was also pretty breathtaking, so I feel like it could make a powerful subject.
Bibliography
Fraipont, Gustave, Reims Cathedral in Flames, c. 1914, Colour etching, Wichita Art Museum, Wichita.
Moran, Edward, Notre Dame - Moonlight, c. 1878, Oil on canvas.
Rivera, Diego, Notre Dame de Paris, 1909, Oil on canvas, Private collection.
Sénéchal, Adrien, Notre-Dame de Reims, 19 septembre 1914 . Fin des huit cloches de la tour nord, vers 20 heures, 1914, Pastel on paper.
Turner, John Mallard William, The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, c. 1834, Oil on canvas, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia.