On Wednesday, one of my greatest fears was realised when I was out driving and suddenly became immersed in a terrific thunderstorm. A small, twisting country road I take became a sea of mud as the fields on either side emptied into its hollows, making driving hazardous. I ran into trouble on the M90 underpass at Inverkeithing when torrential rain and flash floods caused a torrent of rain-water to cascade down the slip-roads and pool, feet deep, submerging the roundabout. A large Mercedes saloon car was pushed up against the concrete supports, trapped in the water. A white van was actually floating. Fire engines and pumps were hastening to the site. I tried to ignore zig-zags of lightning above my wind-screen and was lucky to reach my destination safely. I ran from the car as fast as I could - through a foot of water, with the sky directly above exploding into sparks.
My world is normally peaceful and serene, but it was transformed in a matter of seconds into a realm of chaos and fear - by nature. I emptied out my shoes, wrung out my socks, changed into dry clothing and was grateful to be indoors. My neighbour wasn't so lucky; also driving in the area, her car was carried by the flood and the engine died. She reported that she floated in the car, and was delayed for hours in the storm while the fire brigade pumped flood water from houses before clearing the road and her car could be recovered. Very frightening.
More thunderstorms and floods followed over the next few days, making travel difficult and terrifying the poor dog. In the light of this, I don’t find it surprising that natural events insert themselves into my drawings. They are usually more peaceful, in the form of clouds tumbling down a mountain-side, or mists drifting inland from the coast with perhaps the sighting of a comet.
Amongst the stormy weather, I read this week in the Old Farmers Almanac that peridot, one of my favourite stones, has been found on the relics of ancient meteors which crashed to Earth; the drama of that event sparked my imagination, and will no doubt fuel a drawing or two. It seems to me that weather events and creativity walk hand in hand to permeate my work, and that is why irises puffing Ming Dynasty clouds into the atmosphere, space-age tubers, and cloud-catching comets are populating my drawings at the moment.
Thanks for visiting, see you next week!
RSS Feed
