January 2023

Digital painting of a blue hour scene by a lake. The surface of the lake is smooth, mirroring the dark landscape above. There is some grass in the foreground. The sky is several shades of blue.

January 2nd

We report: on the brink of dawn, asleep in spirit, adrift, dipped in blue light, we roam in darkness. It is a sharp morning by the still water - no wind, brisk dampness permeating the air, we feel it in our lungs. And this scene fades away as time moves on, replaced by another.

Digital painting of a mostly cloudy sky, with an opening of blue sky in the middle. The clouds are very dark in some places, and brightly lit in others, where the sun comes through.

January 1st

We report, on the first day of the new year, uncertain weather. We stumble into it with a sense that we have been kicked off from the previous year - not very ready, not very awake yet, and the sky is largely overcast but bright enough to be too bright. One step at a time.

Digital painting of a large burgeoning white cloud in a deep blue sky.

January 4th

We report: no literature to be found about this cloud yet, but we feel that there is much to say. The sight of the azure amidst these drizzly days of January strikes a profound chord within; the presence of this massive boiling cloud only serves to make our heart soar higher.

Digital painting of a sunset or sunrise sky above the ocean, pastel pink, orange and purple above a lilac sea. There are two black birds in the sky.

January 3rd

We report about being by the sea. This is every time we are here: first, a flat horizon to gaze upon, and then, the white noise that is constantly present. We wonder if the waves inspired the chase for perpetual movement. The ocean keeps on keeping on, and we come and look at it.

Digital painting of a light grey sky with a bright sun shining from behind the clouds. In some spots, the sky looks almost blue, and in others, dark grey clouds float.

January 5th

We report a sky teetering on the edge between two types of weather. The sun is coming through and casting sharp shadows in some moments, but at other times, the thin veil that covers the sky thickens, and we suddenly feel cold. The wind is strong.

Digital painting of an orange sunset, bright colours with much darker clouds floating in the foreground.

January 7th

We report: in our dreams, it is always sunset time. We cannot recall a dream in which the sun was high, or one that took place after it disappeared. We sometimes stay with the sunset, watching it as it never ends. Other dreams, we notice how the light is oddly warm.

Digital painting of a dark twilight sky with a dark blue, almost black sky, taking up most of it. There are city lights dotting the black landscape underneath.

January 6th

We report to our expert: tonight, when the sky had been engulfed in a dark wave and the stars had fallen to the ground, a black note suspended in the air, you whispered something that was taken by the wind before we could hear it. In this quiet, we had no choice but to let it go.

Digital painting of a pink sunrise, clouds like paintbrush strokes in a dark blue sky, with hints of yellow above the horizon.

January 11th

We report a frozen sky this January morning. We see, bite by bite, the sun eating a little bit more of the night these days - we notice it, especially on clear mornings and nights, when we can clearly see the sun grab a few more minutes, hovering over the horizon.

Digital painting of a blue sky filled with small cirrus that curl up and larger grey clouds.

January 8th

We report: to live with the concept of the sky every single day, to live with the idea of something so big, impossible to encompass or to define more accurately than "this that you see when you look up high enough"; a true wonder that we attempt to contemplate every day.

Digital painting of a rainy, cloudy sky. Grey clouds are piled on top of one another, with sheets of rain visible underneath. In the top right corner, some light is coming through.

January 9th

We report of showers on top of showers, following a trail of showers, with more showers trailing behind them. Sometimes, the sky clears out, then just a moment after, clouds gather again, dark and opaque. There is a rhythm to the rain falling in strong bursts. It hails, at times.

Digital painting of a foggy landscape in a field of grass that is covered in frost. The painting is almost black and white.

January 21st

We report: a morning removed from the world, fog and frost making even time move sluggishly. Every blade of grass looks brittle, and we wonder if they would snap off immediately, should we touch them. We cannot locate the sun, though we know where it should be.

Digital painting of a dark blue night sky over a snowy land, out of which bare branches poke. There is, very far in the distance, a line of trees that might be a forest.

January 10th

We report: the sky so dark and low this way, and the horizon so far, the trees bare and tiny in the distance; we wonder whether there might be space enough between the sky and the earth for us to walk. As it is, our face is up in the sky and our feet are down in the frozen earth.

Digital painting of a blue sky, half-covered with grey clouds, and half-covered with thin, white clouds that glow in the sunlight. The grey clouds are obscuring the sun.

January 12th

We report: the briers bordering the path scratched our calves today, even through the fabric of our clothes. On the way home, we could feel the scratches burn. It reminded us of times we fell through brambles when we were younger, and then got back up. The cold numbed the grazes.

Digital painting of a very dark cloudy sky with a few orange highlights.

January 13th

We report about this time, late in the afternoon when the humidity starts to saturate the atmosphere. Even through the dense clouds, there are faint hints of sunset colours amidst the grey. Blackbirds and sparrows are getting busy while we wait for the rain.

Digital painting of a partly cloudy night sky that is filled with stars, even through the clouds.

January 14th

We report: we happened to look through the window and stumbled upon some stars shining through the clouds. There is a shower beating down on the roof, but this is a small, specific spot of the night sky that is clear enough for those stars to come through, many and bright.

Digital painting of a rather dark cloudy sky bathed in golden light.

January 15th

We report, at sunrise: an auspicious time to feel especially alive, to steer from our usual thoughts, and to float in this moment. Here and now, while the wind blows and the sunlight shines upon a cold morning, we feel a longing for something that is just out of sight.

Digital painting of some white, wispy clouds in a bright blue sky.

January 16th

We report: the blue of the sky in between frequent showers, vibrant and pure, darker than we remember the sky to be at noon. On the horizon, we can see the heavy grey clouds moving on, and when we turn to look to the other side, we can see a similarly heavy and grey mass advance.

Digital painting of a very dark cloudy sky, with three white birds flying. Underneath, a flat field brightly lit by the sun, with a few trees far away in the distance.

January 17th

We report: the sunshine from behind us, consumed by the mud and the dark clouds that looked darker in this brightness, and the bare trees on the horizon stood out even more too. This day, we got hail and thunder, and we were cold from the moment we opened the front door.

Digital painting of a blue hour sky at nightfall, over a road and some houses, already black silhouettes at this time. The sky is slightly clouded, with two bright white spots shining.

January 18th

We report Jupiter and Saturn at nightfall today; we expect Venus to follow shortly after, although the sky might be overcast by then. It is still too bright for us to be able to see stars, but we know that the Aquarius constellation is right there, rising over the horizon.

Digital painting of a pink sunrise over a snowy field. There are lines of trees over most of the horizon, and blades of grass peeking out of the snow. There is a band of bright yellow low in the sky.

January 19th

We report: were it not for the trees on the horizon, the sky and the snowy landscape would be difficult to tell apart. Pink sunrises always look colder to us, like the sun is further away than usual; and this morning also smells and sounds like cold. Sharp, bright, yet muffled.

Digital painting of a blue sky right around sunset filled with different types of clouds, some of them golden and others dark blue-grey.

January 20th

We report, just before sunset: mismatched piles of clouds, rain in higher parts of the atmosphere, but blue everywhere - blue sky, blue clouds. The smell of rain is strong and sweet in the air, and there is a flutter of sparrows chirping, flying in and out of the hedges.

Digital painting of a dark blue night sky filled with stars, with the black silhouette of some trees coming up in the foreground.

January 22nd

We report the stars through the trees. The gale is keeping the sky clear (keeping us cold, too), chasing the clouds. This is a freezing night and we cannot walk fast enough, but we also cannot stop looking up at the bright stars.

Digital painting of a sunset sky, mostly clear but with a few clouds still. One of them, large over the horizon, partly hides the yellow sun, creating a visible sun ray rising from the cloud.

January 23rd

We report a split in the sky during sunset, the shadows of the clouds projected up high, while the sun is slowly moving further down. This is the same song and dance every day, but played each time differently - our expert thinks that today, the rendition is especially lovely.

Digital painting of a blue sky covered in long, wispy cirrus.

January 24th

We report white strands feathering out in the blue sky; cirrus, always so delicate and wispy, ice catching the light in thin layers of silver. Underneath those wind-whipped clouds, an expanse of blue, dark like we had not seen in a few days in this place.

Digital painting of a grey sea under a grey sky, with a lot of seafoam near the shore.

January 25th

We report: the frothing winter sea during high tides; any colder and it would freeze solid, it would seem. There is an icy blue in the waves that unrelentingly crash against the rocky shore. The day stretches under an opaque sky that remains the same throughout.

Digital painting of a thin waxing moon crescent in a dark blue night sky, with black clouds above and below.

January 26th

We report a small sliver of the moon, the tiniest blade of bright light piercing through the humid air and the cold, appearing in the midst of dark clouds and the veils of the night. We knew to look for it, and we knew where it would appear, and it made it; a small miracle.

Digital painting of a sunset or sunrise sky, purple with bright red-orange stripes, and light yellow above the horizon, where the sun is.

January 27th

We report: copper, sanguine, and purple, crimson light coming through the lowest clouds and just grazing them. There is a glow that colours cheeks, hair, and puddles a deep vermilion here, a cherry red there. Deeper into the sky, we can tell that the clouds are heavy; rain soon.

Digital painting of a hole in a layer of clouds opening up to a bright blue sky. In the hole, there is a cirrus expanding.

January 28th

We report a fallstreak hole, or as we like to call it, "that moment when the sky is heavy enough to fall", a big hole in the sky that is very much visible and noticeable. Our expert attempts to explain the subtleties of this phenomenon but we generally think it simply looks cool.

Digital painting of a heavy grey sky, many clouds agglomerated to form a blanket. There are three white birds flying up there.

January 29th

We report: now slowly reaching the end of this month, we see all the dark clouds of January starting to pool above us. This very well might result in some precipitations of some kind - rain, or hail, perhaps. The wind is rising as we are zipping up our raincoat.

Digital painting of a snowy landscape at dusk. There are bare trees and telephone posts, a road in the middle, and a distant house with two windows lit.

January 30th

We report that we lost a glove on this snowy path, and we tried to walk back in our earlier steps. It was easy at first, but the snow and the night kept falling steadily; the footsteps disappeared. When we finally came home, though, our expert told us that they had picked it up.

Digital painting of a sunset in warm tones, gold and orange in a partly cloudy blue sky.

January 31st

We report: the days feel a little bit more like days again, we are happy to notice. The path that the sun draws in the sky is longer, and today, the sky was mostly clear, too. There was a glow, a warmth, and specks of gold in the sunset. We saw something beautiful, just for us.

January 2023

February 2023

December 2022