Other Blooms in the Garden

Here are some other spring blooms from our garden that survived the frost and snow from earlier this week.  I've applied a couple of different techniques to each, and am showing you the results.  Both are appealing...

 

We have several banana yuccas, but only one of them blooms fairly consistently - not every year, but perhaps every other year.  This is this year's bloom, not quite open yet.  I actually think the flower is much more interesting before it blooms!  The above effect is the image as a crayon drawing, and the effect below is a creative effect, really accentuating the lines, shadows and detail of the bloom.

 

I'm not sure what this bloom is.  They are lovely little ground cover blooms that cover part of the flagstone seating area in the front garden.  The image above is an effect that looks like a painting, and below is the crayon drawing effect.  I like both a lot for very different reasons - the painterly effect because it really makes the blooms and their color pop, and the crayon drawing effect because it makes them seem very light, airy and casual, which they are!

 

 

Here is a columbine bloom.  These are actually blooms that are quite small, and I love them for their complexity and beauty in such small packages!  The above image is done with a sort of pastel drawing/painting feel and I really love the softness created by this effect, sort of accentuating their delicate beauty.  The image below is actually just the photo itself, with a little vignette to set off the bloom.  I liked this "purist" view because it allows you to see more of the complexity of the bloom. 

 

Enjoy!

 

Delicate & Tough

The other morning, we had both frost and a dusting of snow!  I wondered if my irises would curl up and die before blooming, or tough it out.  As you can see, these delicate beauties are also pretty darn tough!

 

I love the way the vibrant green offsets the purple, white and orange of this bloom.  This really screams spring to me!

 

This is a different, but similar bloom.  The sun shining on it creates such a warm feeling.

 

Here's a close up of another iris bloom.  I really like the complexity to these flowers.  They haven't bloomed for the past couple of springs, and I almost gave up on them, thinking they really didn't like the environment here.  Glad I didn't!

 

This image reminds me of those Victorian (or is it Edwardian?) shirts with the extensive ruffles down the front of the shirt.

 

Enjoy!

Early May Sunrise

I woke up early this morning, and when I went to the window, a lovely sunrise was happening.  I almost missed it, but luckily was able to capture these images before the sun was totally up and sunrise was over!

 

The color of the sky was so wonderful, with purple, blue, rose and pink hovering over the earth below.

 

The sun is peeking up over the horizon and the sunrise will soon be over.  At this moment, the wind is still, altho it started blowing up a storm (typical New Mexico spring!) just a short time later.

 

I shared the last bit of sunrise with Patches, our next door neighbor's horse.  He's in the lower left corner.

 

Enjoy!

New Mixed Media Art !

Here's some new art that I've completed over the past few weeks..... you can click on each image to see a larger view.

 

The above is a set of 4 mixed media pieces using photo images that I've taken.  Each piece is a separate piece - I just put all 4 in one image to make putting them out on the blog easier!  These are all cars or trucks that are completely wrecked - the two on the left were in a junkyard, the bottom right truck was in the Seattle area and the one in the upper right corner used to be on Old Rt. 66 not far from where we now live.....but it's now gone.  Glad I got the images of that one when I did!

These are the latest additions to the Whimzy Lane collection.  The themes are Bloom (the tall one on the right), Joy (upper right), Sing (middle right) and Shine (lower right).  Again, each house stands on its own - I just put them onto one image for the sake of the blog.

 

Enjoy!

Beach Life

How can a person call a visit to southern California complete without a visit to the beach?  I couldn't!

 

This little guy was such a character!  Other seagulls may fly over the beach - this guy decided that he'd check out the beach the way we humans do - by strolling!

 

 

I really love this image.  I think it's very reflective in feeling and also creates a wonderful perspective about how truly small we are when compared with the greatness of the sea.

 

Enjoy the curvy lines of the waves coming into shore!  There was something about this that just begged to be captured on "film", so I had to oblige.

 

This is one of the few images you'll see of me on this blog, even if it's only my toes!! For some reason, I really wanted to take an image of one's toes almost, but not quite, in the water.  And, the easiest toes to capture were my own!  This reminds me of those people who sort of stand aside and just watch life from the sidelines, when they should just jump in!

 

Enjoy!

 

 

The Flower Farm

One morning, we visited a place known as "The Flower Farm".  As readers of my blog, you know flowers are one of my favorite themes, and when I visited here, I was in photographer's heaven!

 

Wildflowers are some of my favorite subjects, and this cluster was just too pretty and sweet to pass up.  I really loved the way the sunlight highlighted the yellow daisy.

 

One of the amazing views from the farm were the fields of different colored flowers on display.  It almost overloaded one's visual sense, and the blue sky set everything off so nicely!

 

This image reminded me of a possible scene from a garden in France, one that Monet could have painted, and so I just had to create that effect.  I also love the mirroring effect of the arches.

 

In addition to the solid bands of colored flowers, there were patches of multi-colored beauties as well.  I just love the sense of happiness conveyed by these blooms!

 

I always love images of beautiful nonconformity.  Altho people generally like to be the same as others, being different adds a certain spice to life, don't you think?

 

Enjoy!

Sunset at Del Mar

One evening, we went to dinner at a restaurant called Jake's in Del Mar, California.  We were sitting at a table that allowed me to capture these great images of the fabulous sunset that happened that night......all from my seat in the restaurant while enjoying my delicious steak dinner!

 

I don't know what the person in this image is searching for, but I thought she added just the right perspective for this image.  Creates a sort of solitary feeling, doesn't it?

 

This pup was actually out for a walk with his "people", but far enough ahead of them for me to be able to just capture him in this image as he strolled along the beach during sunset.

 

At this point, several of the restaurant patrons were out of their seats and outside shooting the very last glimpse of the sun on this day.  If you look closely at the lower right corner of this image, you'll see two surfers enjoying the last of the sunset as well.

 

Altho many people had stopped shooting the sunset when the sun disappeared over the horizon, I think that there are still special moments to be had when all we have left is the afterglow.

 

Enjoy!

Top of the Hill

One of the first places that we stopped at when I arrived in San Diego was the top of a very high hill in the area where my friend lives.  From the top of this hill, one can see as far north as Catalina and as far south as Mexico.

 

 

I can't recall in which direction I was facing for this shot, but I really do love the way the clouds create dappled sunshine on the landscape.  I know it happens all over, but you only notice it when you have enough space to see a broader expanse of sky and the land below.



 

The other thing at the top of the hill was this great tree.  I think my friend said it's an olive tree - whatever it is, the shape of it's trunk and branches is very striking and I couldn't resist a shot looking up from below.

 

I also really liked this image of it from the path approaching the very top of the hill, where it's located.  It's just picture perfect with the great sky as a backdrop!

 

Enjoy!

Oasis of Calm

At the same area as the cool red tree, there was a lovely collection of water lilies.....

 

 

I think the above image is so perfect with the collection of greens and the pink clustered in the lower right corner with other little snippets of pink throughout.....



 

Here's a close-up of one of the water lilies.  I love the way nature is so wonderfully simple in the beauty it gives us. 

 

In this image, I love the bit of added texture that the water gives to the image.  Altho these flowers convey a true feeling of peace and calmness, the ironic thing is that they are found in a little triangle of nature in the midst of 3 roads that sort of cross paths in this area.  I wonder how many people truly see this as they hurry by each day?

 

Enjoy!

Cool Red

I spent last weekend and the beginning of this week visiting friends in the San Diego area.  One of the places that we stopped was next to this tree.  It's so cool because it's in full bloom, but no green leaves as of yet....and this isn't the first time it's bloomed this way according to my friend.

 

I love the images above and below.  They left me with a sort of zen type of feeling, very peaceful, and sort of Asian... 

 

...I didn't think that the images were going to be much of anything when I took them, but worked to have only the sky in them.  It seems to match the simplicity of the tree itself.

 

This last image is a close up of the bloom.  It may look like there's a sort of cone in the center of the bloom, but that's not what it looks like in person.  This is a very different, simple and yet complex tree.  Very cool.

 

Enjoy!