New Year's Resolutions

I much prefer the first day of the year to the last. There's a sense of potential to any new year...and there's always that wonderful energy for resolutions and promises to the self. So much easier, of course, to make than to keep.

I have lots of projects planned for the new year but my resolution is just to notice one new thing every day. A simple enough goal, yet it requires some conscious choices on my part. I need to stop, to really look at things, perhaps sketch them, write about them and certainly to really think about what it is I'm looking at.

We took a walk today just before night fell. The day was gusty and as we leaned into the wind it whistled around us. Mist blew into our faces. The streets of the village were quiet.

One thing I noticed today was a gargoyle on the right edge of the chateau roof, surveying the grounds below. How is it I had never noticed it before? He stares down onto the roof of our house day and night.

While we walked along we heard a cacophony of bird song coming from inside a walled garden. The sound of joy and the promise of spring. There was a flock of songbirds clustered together in an arbor, sheltering from the weather, no doubt.

In the coming year I plan for the blog to be a kind of daily journal. I will post only once a week, generally on Sundays, but the post will be divided into five sections: Monday-Friday. I will post something I've focused on for each day. Some art work, some photos, some thoughts.

I'll be back here next Sunday to show you what I mean.