Low Clouds  - Lone Tree

Recently, we took a wonderful camping trip in northern New Mexico.  Our first stop was at Sugarite Canyon State Park.  The first morning we were here, the clouds were so low, they ran throughout the campground and obscured our view of most things – including the other side of the canyon and the view down the canyon.

Earlier in the season, or more probable last season, there appeared to have been a controlled burn of an area of trees just below our campsite.  There was one tree, dead, altho still standing.  There was something about that tree, caught in the clouds…… 

Lone Tree

This image can evoke a number of emotions.  As I look at it, I can feel sadness or loneliness, solitude or peace, calm or beauty.  I suppose could even be a feeling of evil or foreboding, altho that’s not something I can easily imagine looking at it.  A friend indicated to her it was somewhat Taoist, which is an ancient Chinese religion focusing on living in harmony.  I especially like that idea as it gives a dead tree continued life.

Grey Sky

This is the same tree from a different perspective.  Later that same morning, with the clouds still hanging around our campsite, we began our drive to explore the area around the state park.  As we drove down the access road to the campground, I looked up and saw the tree, I asked Jeff to stop so I could capture it.  Only one word comes to mind as I look at the tree from this perspective – magnificent.

Enjoy!

 



Exploring the Unknown

I have been curious and intrigued by encaustics for a few years now.  Finally, a month or so ago, I took a photo encaustic one-day workshop that opened my eyes to how I could incorporate it into my photography – and collage as well.  For those of you who may not know what encaustic medium is, it’s a mixture of beeswax and resin.  It can be clear or a natural color which is a pale yellow.  Pigments can also be added to it to result in colors.  Let’s take a look on my practice pieces from August….

 Two Trees

This is a photo I took of a couple of trees not far from our home.  I placed the photo on top of some vintage sheet music.  Altho this came out ok, I think I can do better.  Still, good for an early attempt.

Morning Journals

This was my favorite one from my first practice session.  To me, it speaks to some things that I do often in the mornings – write in my journal, my morning pages, and photograph the area wherever we are, home or traveling.

Late Autumn

There’s a lot going on in this piece.  I incorporated a number of collage elements, but the centerpiece is another of the trees I love to photograph.  I do sort of like the textured look of this piece, but I don’t think it’s as strong as it could be.

Gloomy Winter Day

This is another of my favorites.  I shot this image on a winter day while driving around in a snow storm!  I really wanted to capture this deserted cabin during a winter storm, so when opportunity presented itself, I bundled up and went driving around to see what I could capture!  I began playing around with how an oil pastel crayon sort of melted and flowed when I heated up the board to fuse the layers of encaustic.  It reminded me of how it felt outside on that wintry day, and I knew I had to include this image in this piece.  I kept thinking about adding something to it, but after trying several different items, I decided that the piece really spoke to exactly how the day was when this image was captured. 

More practice to come, but for now –

Enjoy!

 



Morning Walks

Earlier this week, Miki and I walked around the airpark for some morning explorations with my camera.  Come along with us!

Charlotte’s Web

Before we started our walk, I stepped out onto our back patio when Jeff noticed this wonderful spider web!  The only thing that would have made it more perfect is rain on the web.  But, it was a sunny day, so no rain!  Don’t you love the imperfect perfection of the pattern?

Mexican Hat – Red

Perhaps because we’ve had such a fabulous monsoon season this year these fun flowers are springing up all over the place.  Here are some deep red, almost maroon, blooms.  Doesn’t the red color look almost velvety?

Yellow Mexican Hat

Here’s the yellow variety of this bloom.  There’s something so bright and sun shiny about these blooms, they make me smile.

Yellow Mexican Hat Watercolor

For this image, I converted it to a watercolor image.  You can still feel the happiness of these blooms, just softer.

Yellow in the Sky

The next set of flower blooms will be one of my summertime favorites – the brightly bold sunflower!  I just love the way these blooms reached tall, tall, to the sky!

Sunflower Profile

As I walked along, I notice this wonderful profile view of one of the sunflowers.  You can really see the detail in the center of the bloom from this view.

Sunflower Back

As I wandered among the sunflowers, I noticed how pretty the back of them are.  So, of course, I took a photo of it.  Isn’t the layering detail simply amazing?

Peeking Sunflower

I love the softness of this image.  It’s so incredibly gentle; I just have to sigh to look at it.

Soft Sunflower Portrait

Here’s another image that I really like.  It’s just about a perfect image of one – Nature at its best.

Enjoy!



 

East Mountain Sunrise

A couple of mornings ago, as we were waking up, Jeff commented that the sunrise looked like it would be a good one.  So, I crawled out of bed, grabbed my camera, put on some slippers and went out on our back patio to see what there was to see.  Take a look!

Morning Glow

The sun’s rays were great as they played across the clouds in the sky.  I love the contrast between the warm sunrise colors and the cool blues and purples of the night.

Peeking Sunrise

The sun hadn’t yet peeked up over the horizon when I got this shot.  I was standing at the very edge of our patio and included part of a lovely bushy tall shrub that we have growing there.  I thought it added a nice balance to the wide open sky and clouds.

Dead Calm

It seems that often, right around sunrise, the air gets completely calm and peaceful.  You can see that’s what happened on this morning – the airport’s wind sock is hanging limp!  Again, I included that bushy shrub as a bit of balance for the image.

Enjoy!



 

Monsoon Sunset

Last evening, there was a lovely sky that only seems to occur during the summer monsoon season here in New Mexico.  The sky puts on its own magical show –

Patches and Jazz Approaching

Patches and Jazz, our friends’ horses, were more interested in me wandering around off our back patio that the lovely sunset show going on behind them.  The sun’s rays are outlining the Sandia Mountains in the distance very dramatically.

Evening Glow

Well, the curiosity about me wandering out back is clearly over for Patches and Jazz!  They are once again back to grazing in their corral, still oblivious to the wonderful evening show going on behind them.

Evening Sky

Here I’ve pulled back a bit to give you a better view of the great sky we had last evening.  You can still see the Sandia Mountains on the left side of the image, but now you can also see “our” mountain, South Mountain, on the right.  South Mountain is part of the San Pedro Mountains just a bit north and east of the Sandia’s.

Storm over the Mountain

And, finally, here’s a view of someone getting a sunset rain storm.  The rain is happening over the Sangre de Christo Mountains almost directly north of us.  You can still see a bit of the San Pedro Mountains off to the left, and Lone Mountain between the San Pedro’s and Sangre de Christo Mountains.  Lovely evening show!

Enjoy!



 

The Secret Garden – Ethereal Beauties

And, finally, I thought I’d share some images that turned out to be sort of ethereal in nature after I processed them.  I really like each and every one of these quite a lot.

Delicate Purple Bloom

It almost seems like you can see thru the petals of this flower, altho truly you cannot.  The soft focus on the leaves in the background really allows this image to pop.

Dreamy Waterlilies

 I tried a special effect on this image – a dreamy effect (that’s what it was called!).  This did give the image a dream-like quality.

Soft Columbine

Again, the soft focus of the greenery behind this bloom gives the image a sort of other-worldly feel to this.  Each one of these images makes me feel like I’m having a wonderful day dream.

Enjoy!

 

The Secret Garden – Other Blooms

This garden was incredible – so many different flowers and plants to see while wandering the paths.  You’ve seen orange and yellow, so now let’s check out some other colors!

Pink Rose

I have to admit, after visiting the garden and seeing how well they got roses to grow, I bought home a plant to see if, finally, we could get roses to grow.  Jeff & I had no luck in IL!  I’m cautiously optimistic – at the time I’m writing this, it’s been a couple of weeks, and the rose bush we planted is doing well, and even has a new branch shooting up from the ground!!

Agave

Ok, so this is not a flower or bloom, but it is a very cool plant!  I love the detail in this image.

White Bloom

I have tried taking images of this tree bloom without much luck.  This image comes the closest (so far) to being something that I really sort of like.  That is, until I take a better one!

Purple Wildflowers

Now, I doubt that any flower in this garden is a true “wildflower”, meaning growing without being sown and tended to in some way.  But, these purple beauties remind me of wildflowers and I really like them!

Enjoy!