After receiving a message from my daughter in Laos complaining that she is cold even though the temperature is 24 degrees.  I decided that this might be a fine topic to blog about.  To begin, a few words from a Shakespeare sonnet.

Blow, blow, thou winter wind
Thou art not so unkind
As man’s ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen,
Because thou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude.

Blow, Blow Thou Wintry Wind
print of Edwin Douglas painting
@1910

#EdwinDouglas (1848-1914) was a painter of animals and most particularly dogs, for which he was and is widely known and admired.  Edwin Douglas also found that Jersey cattle were particularly paintable.  He admired their graceful heads, their well-marked bodies and found them small enough to group easily and gracefully onto his canvases.  His Jersey cattle pictures eventually became rather popular, especially in the United States.

‘#Blow,BlowThouWintryWind’ is the title of this print and the original oil painting by Douglas.  Finely etched and printed – one can feel the wind as it blows across the land.  The shepherds scarf  and the sheep’s woolly coat blow in the wind as they trek through the freshly fallen snow.

Edwin Douglas was born in Edinburgh and studied there also.  He painted Scottish scenes even after moving south, as with so many of his compatriots, to London in search of patronage and commissions after having exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1869.

title unknown
print of Edwin Douglas painting
@1898

Freeze, freeze thou bitter sky,
That does not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot:
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp
As a friend remembered not.

One experiences the open countryside which o’er blows the cold, life steeling wind. If you do not belong here you will not live.  Even the hearty struggle.

Enjoy the warmth for winter comes and cold blows the winter wind from the north.