Alexandra Blum, ‘Fragile rain’, watercolour on paper, 23 x 30.5 cm, 2026.
Begun in May 2026 during a small flurry of rain, I continued to work on this image during the successive heatwaves over the summer. The trees gradually yellowed as the drought took hold and the rain drops already in the image began to remind me of the times I’d seen very occasional rain falling in extreme heat, but evaporating before it reached the ground.
Towards the end of summer, a new crane sprang up in the landscape beyond my studio window. Placed next to the white rain drop (drawn weeks earlier), I was intrigued by the way the two together suggested the hands of a clock. Meanwhile, the stars and moon peep out in the upper corners, fleeting reminders of the cosmic space beyond the earth’s atmosphere.
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Alexandra Blum, Detail of ‘Fragile rain’, watercolour on paper, 23 x 30.5 cm, 2026.
Alexandra Blum, Detail of ‘Fragile rain’, watercolour on paper, 23 x 30.5 cm, 2026.
Alexandra Blum, Detail of ‘Fragile rain’, watercolour on paper, 23 x 30.5 cm, 2026.
Alexandra Blum, Detail of ‘Fragile rain’, watercolour on paper, 23 x 30.5 cm, 2026.