Category: Flowers

In the Moment Stories

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I’ve wanted to blog all week, but “crazy-busy” wouldn’t let me, so after photographing flowers Thursday morning, I opened the Instagram app to post a photo with a few hashtags. Then, I remembered “stories.” I’d never posted a story before, but I discovered immediately that they are perfect for sharing “in the moment” photos or thoughts when a blog post is out of the question:

Like when you’re driving along and the flowers on the side of the road require some time with them.

Or when, at some point during the morning drive, you look up and the sky deserves more than a glance.

Or while you’re sitting in your car waiting for a meeting to start and you notice dogwood blossoms not too far from you, when everywhere else (as far as you know) the blossoms took leave weeks ago.

Moments like these often sit in my camera or on my phone unshared. There are thousands of them (literally). I’ll do better.

I plan to “flesh out” these particular experiences some time soon with more photos (and words), so stay tuned.

Enjoy your weekend!

The Sunflowers Told Me…

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We had a slight disruption in our sunflower posts due to end-of-the-semester busyness and exhaustion.  I crashed seconds after arriving home last night.  We’ll make up for it by adding a “sunflower” day next week.  Actually, I have enough sunflower material to blog about them for a month! No worries. I won’t.

Five minutes after entering my office yesterday (for no obvious reason) I ended up in a weird head space that made it difficult to concentrate on anything that looked and felt like work. I took a moment with my sunflower wall, carefully studying each image and thinking fondly about how each came to me.

The sunflowers, filled with reminders to be good and kind to myself, gave me permission to slow down the crazy pace at which I’d been working for several weeks straight and pause, even if just for a moment.

My sunflower wall grew tremendously as a result of International Women’s Day 2018. My Love Notes friends filled my mailbox with sunflower after sunflower, and though I’ll share the other yellow flowers I received eventually, today, we walk through a sunflower field together. [Click an image for a closer look].

 

Photo by Christine B.
Photo by Peg Havener
From Eileen V.
Photo by Litsa A.
I Can! From Gina B.
From Arielle W.
From Connie F.
Handmade by Christine B.
Postcard Back. From Gina B.

The postcards came from Love Noters–Christine, Eileen, Connie, Arielle, Litsa, Peg, and Gina. I received two more that aren’t pictured here; they’re “earmarked” for two other posts.

I “installed” the sunflower wall in front of my primary “work station” one afternoon when I was “fed up” with the dreariness of winter. I needed the sun! Thanks to my Love Notes friends, the sun shines even brighter in my office.

I hope your weekend is filled with light, love, and lots of pauses.

Children’s Book Illustration Postcard: “Summer” by Eric Carle

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It’s “Sunflower Week” on Pics and Posts, so I’m sharing a children’s book illustration postcard out of sequence because…well, it’s a sunflower! 😉

Samantha (Sammoning on swap-bot), from the Netherlands, sent the Eric Carle postcard below  for Children’s Book Illustration Postcard swap #30.

Eric Carle, “Summer”

If you’re familiar with Eric Carle, the author/artist of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, you probably recognized the sunflower as his work immediately.  The postcard comes from the World of Eric Carle 100 Postcards, a delightful collection full of the artist’s brilliant work. There is very little information about the postcard. The image was posted on Carle’s blog almost eight years ago with no other detail but the title. It is part of his “season’s collection.”

By the way, if you need a dose of the warm fuzzies, you should really check out his blog.

Carle has “written and/or illustrated more than 70 picture books.” His collage illustrations are made with hand-painted tissue paper. If you’re looking for a fun (and easy) art project to help you decompress after a long work day, check out Carle’s slideshow in which he shares his technique: How I Paint My Tissue Papers.

And if you’re (ever) in Amherst, Massachusetts, check out the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.

See you tomorrow…with even more sunflowers.

Sunflowers and Tears

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“Those who sow in tears…”

You’ve probably figured out by now that I am incredibly blessed to have a number of friends who are artists. They do amazing work and generously spread their light. My friend Lindy, whom I met via swap-bot, sent me the “scripture” sunflower painting above a few years ago.

I was going through a period of deep sadness, but “life” needed me, so I had to continue functioning in the midst of my pain. At times, the only thing that kept me going was the assurance of others that “this, too, shall pass.”

This is what I appreciate most about Lindy’s gift. She could have sent just the sunflower, and for me that would have been enough. But, knowing what I needed, she added the scripture.

Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.  Psalm 126:5.

The painting reminded me then (and continues to remind me) that there will not always be pain, that if I push through it–if I sow through it–songs of joy will indeed rise in my spirit again.

And the sunflower, you know, is my constant reminder to “face the Sun.”

Lindy is a gifted and prolific artist who offers paint lessons and paint parties from her home studio. You can see more of her work in her Etsy Store, Nana Who Paints. Check her out! I’m sure  you’ll find something you like. 🙂

Sunflowers, Roses, and Coincidence

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Life is busy, busy, busy, but I had to drop by on my lunch break because I found myself chuckling a little about the coincidence between last week’s Microblog Monday post and an interaction with one of my good friends.

At the end of a birthday dinner she hosted for her husband and other February-born relatives Saturday, my friend gave away the red roses that adorned most of the tables. Only the “kiddie table” held a vase of sunflowers.

She offered me the roses. Then read my face, “You want the sunflowers.”

Indeed.

Lately, more than usual, I need to surround myself with the sunny blossoms and, like them, seek the light…

I don’t think there’s anything on this planet that more trumpets life than the sunflower. For me that’s because of the reason behind its name. Not because it looks like the sun but because it follows the sun. During the course of the day, the head tracks the journey of the sun across the sky. A satellite dish for sunshine. Wherever light is, no matter how weak, these flowers will find it. And that’s such an admirable thing. And such a lesson in life.  –Helen Mirren as Chris in Calendar Girls

Color Harmony: Can There Be Harmony on One Side of the Wheel?

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Icy cold temperatures kept me indoors quite a bit over the last few weeks, and since I’d rather explore and experiment with my camera outdoors, I delayed work on Dogwood’s Week 3 prompt when I looked at the forecast and saw that this week promises warmer weather.

I managed to complete the Week 2 prompt more than a week ago. Somewhat.

The prompt, “Color Harmony,” under the “composition” category, called for photographers to:

Get out your color wheel. Do opposites attract? Can there be harmony with opposite colors? Does the Hulk wear purple pants? Mix warm and cool colors.

I had a number of things working against me. The weather (rainy and/or cold), meetings, and the beginning of a new semester conspired to limit my time and energy for photographic creativity. Here’s what I managed:

[Shot with my Canon].  I like the silhouette of the the house and trees in this photo of the sunset sky as the evening clouds began to roll in, but I’m not pleased with the composition.  At the moment of the shot, I was focused on the sky and getting out of the cold! I should have changed my position a bit to get the right balance. Few things can compete with the beauty of a naturally painted sky–and this one offers a nice blend of pink to orange to yellow masking the blue day sky.

I snapped this one on my iPhone while racing through Walmart. I’m not a fan of fake flowers, but the pink and purple “silk” flowers on display drew my attention. Why? Pink and purple, of course! I edited the photo because I couldn’t tolerate the fact that they were so obviously fake.  Now, they have a reason to look “unreal.”  The conundrum here was trying to determine if the photo captures “warm” and “cool” colors. Purple and pink are straddlers. The pink feels a bit warmer than cool to me; the purple a bit cooler than warm. What do you think?

Lastly, another one snapped on my phone. These are my mom’s forever sunflowers. I forgive them for being fake because they are so realistic that many people think they’re the real thing. Furthermore, I accept sunflowers in all forms.  😉

Do they meet the challenge? I’m not convinced there were enough opposite or warm and cool colors to create interest.

I’ll keep working on “color harmony”–when the weather warms a bit.

Week 1: Vision: Looking Ahead