Sunlight, tealight, brushlight...

First there was snow, then milder temperatures.  Now we are back in the lap of winter, earlier seasonal offerings having reinvented themselves as bitter wind, biting cold and ice in unexpected places. The world beyond the windows is a handsome place at times, but it is cold and slippery "out there", and walking is downright treacherous.

In the absence of good weather for pottering around outside, this is a fine day for oceans and oceans of tea, stacks of art and photography books and wispy Japanese flute music on the CD player, for indoor photography exercises, getting out my pencils, pens, inkstones and brushes, for trying to capture the day in broad and sweeping strokes.

Teapots in shades of turquoise and slate blue, tiny porcelain cups rimmed in sunny yellow, delicate rice paper fans and lightly brushed calligraphies  - all have something to say, and they seem to be tucking themselves into fetching arrangements in the early sun coming through the window. The camera's eye loves everything it lights upon at the beginning of day, and it beguiles the old hen holding it with the tantalizing possibilities inherent in a circular coin of sunlight and my macro lens.

Perhaps a series of ensos, each drawn in a single flowing movement? Whether or not the day's efforts embrace the "Way of the Brush" (筆禅道), holding vitality and eternal experience in their curves, they will surely hold snow and lingering winter.