Capturing Images with Words
A review of Helen Macdonald ’ s Vesper Flights
By Paul Roberts
Helen Macdonald is a painter . This book is an artist ’ s display of some of her best paintings hung in a beautiful salon with perfect ambient conditions , the right temperature , good lighting , soft music , and comfortable surroundings .
There are 41 essays in the collection . Her style varies from piece to piece , but most of the settings are somewhere in England . The animals and birds are those found in Europe , not the U . S . Some are up-close views of the surroundings , with lots of focused details , others abstract . Each vignette illustrates an experience from Helen ’ s life . Some tell a short story . Others are like a dream in which you find yourself there , and the action unfolds , then you wake and are left with a fading memory of a seemingly unconnected event and the satisfaction of the experience . A sense of peace and tranquility pervades the series even when the subject matter is death or extinction . The overall feeling of the collection , however , is uplifting and hopeful .
I forgot to mention that her medium is words , not oils or watercolors . But the colors are vibrant , and their interplay creates emotion , empathy , involvement , and frequently , for those of us who are obsessed with the environment , a like-mindedness .
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