Daily Visuals: flowers

Showing posts with label flowers. Show all posts

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Monday, September 28, 2009

Friday, August 28, 2009

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Sunday, July 26, 2009

I've been looking for just such a stand of Queen Ann's Lace since May. It doesn't grow so profusely in Texas, but on a drive to Kansas City I expected to find an overrun field. Later, I hoped to discover it while driving across Ohio.
Finally yesterday I found my profuse patch in Onandaga, New York. The lesson? Don't give up. Keep my eyes open and keep looking.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

June 28, 2009

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

June 9, 2009

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

May 12, 2009

Sunday, May 10, 2009

May 10, 2009

Happy Mother's Day!

Saturday, May 9, 2009

May 9, 2009

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

May 6, 2009

Friday, May 1, 2009

May 1, 2009

Thanks to veterans, laborers and military personnel everywhere. May 1 is Labor Day in many parts of the world, so why not take the opportunity to express gratitude to those who work on behalf of their fellow citizens in difficult, dirty and often dangerous jobs? These are the folks who bring us automobiles, strawberries, solid foundations, street clean up, public transportation, and peace. Bless each of them today.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

April 29, 2009

The world's beauty is a swirl of color,
But in the flower's center is bright stillness.

" In life, attractions are endless. We should not do more than we need to satisfy ourselves. To plunge further is foolhardy. Remember to withdraw and look within. Lingering on the outside of our souls, there is shimmering beauty and fantastic movement. It is only when we go to the center of our souls that we are at the still-point of existence. Then all is brightness, energy condensed, unbearably strong and powerful, yet absorbed in supreme quietude."

#117: Attraction
365 Tao: Daily Meditations
Deng Ming-Dao

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

April 14, 2009

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

March 31, 2009

Friday, March 6, 2009

March 6, 2009

Monday, February 23, 2009

February 23, 2009

"Flowers arouse in us an instinct to protect them, to appreciate them and to shelter them. The world is too ugly, too violent. There should be something delicate to care about. To do so is to be lifted above the brute and to go toward the refined...

The tenderness of flowers arouses mercy, compassion and understanding. If that beauty is delicate, so much the better. Life itself is fleeting. We should take time to appreciate beauty in the midst of temporality."

#51 Beauty

365 Tao: Daily Meditations

Deng Ming-Dao

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November 20, 2008

How does color set a mood? The soft gray and white of the carpet, the cat Marshall, and the sunlit window contribute to to the sense of calm repose. What does blue mean to you or me? We all have symbolic associations for colors; some based on personal experience and some instilled culturally.

The cobalt blue of the vase provides a point and counterpoint to the composition, in addition to providing elements that balance.

Keeping the cat in the lower third of the composition weights the image and is another visual door into the picture world.

November 19, 2008

This picture tells several stories. It references the human desire to order the world around us - the lettering on the wall establishes the alley as a No Parking zone, and the broken glass- jutting out at the top - is another message of fear and frailty. Whoever lives behind this wall wants to be left alone.

But there is beauty in the contrast of the rough brick surface and the smooth translucency of the broken glass bottles. A contrast of textures makes for an interesting composition. And the abstract nature of the printed letters against the structure of the bricks would be worth emulating in another sort of composition.

There is as much beauty in decay as there is in a bouquet of fresh flowers. And aren't decay and fresh growth just two different spots on the same continuum?

November 18, 2008

The Hydrangeas offer a lesson in the effective use of color. The pale blue and lavender are roughly the same value, so they balance each other beautifully. I am challenged to mimic that combination of analogous colors on silk Habotai!

This photograph would be considered beautiful even without the red-orange and yellow flowers at the bottom. But the addition of the complements to the blue and purple creates a focal point and generates some nice contrast because of the complementary pairing. And imagine how different this composition would be, were the red-orange and yellow at the top instead of at the bottom. The current placement adds important visual weight.

A Daily Practice

On November 10, 2008, I committed to a year-long photo-journaling practice. As an artist, I believe it is valuable to spend time every day looking at the world around me. To this end, I committed to posting a daily photograph and a few thoughts when applicable - on color, design, spirit and making. While this is primarily a witness to processes that help me go deeper into my own art-making, it is also a practice worth sharing. I invite you to comment, if you are moved to do so. And thanks for joining in!

November 10, 2008

As an artist and teacher I am committed to the concept of practice. No matter what interests you, improving is almost guaranteed if you choose to spend time engaged by your topic. It's true of riding a bicycle, learning to cook, or painting on canvas. Maybe a few of us have a genius streak that allows talent to roll out fully formed, but most of us have to work at it.

I'm a better teacher now that I've been doing it awhile. And I think most of my students get better at whatever they've chosen as their focus if they put regular time and energy into what we often refer to as mastery.

November is a fallow time of year. The teaching cycle ends because everyone's focus is on the holidays and nobody signs up for classes. The weather - even in Texas - cools, and shifts as we move toward a few months of lower temperatures. Elections come and go, and when we are lucky, we have a renewed sense of hope and change and optimism about the future.

November is usually the time of year when I begin new journaling projects. It feels right to slow, and spend some time contemplating the year's end. I brainstorm new projects and directions my work could take. I evaluate successes and also failures; which are inevitable if you are living a human and imperfect life. I resolve to do better.

This year I am drawn to the practice of posting a photograph every morning. I've been to Australia and Canada and across the USA from coast to coast in 2008. For the first time I've recorded the world around me. When I get home, I download images and sometimes abstract them. I like the unexpected juxtapositions. The angles and perspectives this process affords. Perhaps these images will find their way into, or onto, my art cloth, but my only real goal is regular posting and reflecting - which I believe will encourage me to see the world with fresh eyes.

Please join me. I hope that through the sharing of a visual image we can also share thoughts on art and life, spirit and seeing.

November 15, 2008

Overnight the cold front blows in. Leaves tremble. After midnight a Pecan branch snaps and thuds against the metal roof, jarring us awake with a jolt. This morning, the sudden transformation of the leaves, brought on by a dip in temperature. A perfect complementary color study - red against green. I ascertain pure clear colors, but also those we often discount. A mingling of red into green, dulling the intensity of each, while producing subtle variations of sophisticated color in the process. Oh, teach me, Mother Nature.

November 14, 2008

Nature surrounds us with examples of form and balance. Photographs are an excellent way to capture and play with design concepts. A simplified version of this photograph would make a beautiful study in another medium. Taking pictures for your own use encourages you to look more closely at details of color and line. If only I could learn to match the subtle versions of yellow and green exhibited on these squash, in paint or dye. A worthy goal for an autumn morning.

"Color is mysterious, eluding definition; it is a subjective experience, a cerebral sensation depending on three related and essential factors: light, an object, and an observer."

Enid Verity; Color Observed. 1980

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Monday, September 28, 2009

Friday, August 28, 2009

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Friday, May 1, 2009

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Friday, March 6, 2009

Monday, February 23, 2009

November 20, 2008

November 20, 2008

November 19, 2008

November 19, 2008

November 18, 2008

November 18, 2008

November 17, 2008

November 16, 2008

November 16, 2008

A Daily Practice

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