Thorny thing in flower (Black Thorn winter)

oil on canvas, 32 x 28″, Apr 8 2019

“It is a remarkable fact, that there is always, that is every year of our lives, a spell of cold and angry weather, just at the time that this hardy little tree is in bloom. The country people call it the Black Thorn winter; and thus it has been called, I dare say, by all the inhabitants of this island, from generation to generation, for a thousand years.” [William Cobbett, The Woodlands, London, 1825]