January Diptych

Staring out at the garden the other week, my attention was caught by the sight of a solitary apple doggedly hanging on one of the very old apple trees in the garden. Despite all the wind and rain over the past few weeks this one rosy red apple was clinging on to its slender branch when all its remaining brethren from this last crop lay strewn over the grass. The birds had been eaten some and others were going brown as they gradually went to mush but this one crimson fruit stood out against the pale blue winter sky. But then I noticed that the first snowdrops of the year were beginning to emerge under the apple tree and I was struck by the juxtaposition. I think it just might make an interesting diptych.

Yesterday I finished the first study (20 x 20 cm.) celebrating the apple's rage against the dying of the light.

And today I began the second.... to be continued.

Postscript - that lone apple hung on until the very last week of March!