We are ringing in a snowy and cold new year here in Colorado, but it's supposed to be a little warmer for two days. The light and dark patterns in the snowy mandala above help to create a little depth. A lizard sculpture is anchoring the shadow ring.
The source photo for the snow dragon mandala. We still have snow on the ground from an earlier snow - it's been too cold to melt! Brrrrr
The snow dragon has the eyes of a missing branch and our snowy couple of weeks. I'm always intrigued when my image makes another image in the circle and the branches make such an interesting pattern.
The table at Christmas is decorated with many things. In this picture are cloved oranges and pitzels in the middle -the outside of the circle is red and green. It's cold here and snowing lightly it's suppose to be cold until the New Year. So stay warm and enjoy the season. 
There is a pond in the backyard and in the winter we put a bubbler in to oxygenate the water. When it gets cold enough to freeze we get some interesting ice sculptures! Above is one turned into a mandala. 
My salmon colored christmas cactus is blooming now. The stamen and pistol are such bright colors, I like to take pictures when the flowers are brand new. It is cold today only 21 last time I looked, an artic front came down from Canada last night. Brrrrrr...
The sunrise is getting later and later this time of year. The other day we had a beautiful sunrise. When put into the kaleidoscope form, interesting light patterns form. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do. 
The temperature will be in the 60s today, a touch of Indian summer for our Thanksgiving celebration. The grass is still green and the pansies are still blooming in my pots by the door. I'm grateful for all things great and small. In honor of the pumpkin that serves us thru October and into November, as a decoration and then a pie! 
We've had a couple storms that have piled up snow on the leaves and branches. Above is a branch of scrub oak placed in a six pointed star. Conscious of the elements that drawn the eye in and pull it out of the composition, the points on the star are like arrows they head in the direction they are pointed, out. They are stopped by the rounded shield branches on the edge. 
A purple and white orchid has been gracing my counter in the sun room, the blooms have lasted at least a month. Ample opportunity to take pictures! At the Gateway Show in Aurora, one mandala won 1st place, I'm grateful for the space to show my work. 
My other passion is genealogy, and it being almost Veteran's Day, my sister wanted to use my Dad's WWII hats for a veterans luncheon she was helping with, mandala with eagle from the hat above. This week, I uploaded pictures to Ancestry of four brothers (cousins) who all served during WWII. One of them did not come back and is memorialized in the Netherlands and posthumously received the Purple Heart. Thanks you for our freedom, Veterans.
With all the snow that fell last week I started feeding the birds again, but apparently I'm also feeding the squirrels. The squirrels also love to irritate the dog who barks at them alot. The fur and the twigs make an interesting star pattern. 
It has been very frosty here today - a good day to go nowhere. We have lots of snow on the ground and more coming tomorrow. Above is another study of a frosted dandelion leaves, there are so many patterns that the leaves and stems create. 
The color of the fall is in the leaves, even mutted colors have their own appeal. Get out and enjoy the color before it is snowed away!
We had a lot of flowers at our house a couple weeks ago because my mother-in-law passed away at 85. One of the boquets had a beautiful blue-purple orchid in it. Colors that don't show up together in nature very often. Thus the image above. 
The snow is falling today, but it wasn't sticking to the streets much. This plant picture was taken earlier in the fall in the mountains. Before the sun hits the leaves there are beautiful ice patterns along the edges. On a recent trip we came over Raton Pass into a bank of fog, as it was lifting we were presented with a gorgeous view of frost covered trees. 
We have a square in the middle of the circle made by the morning glories. I liked the green X in the middle too. The vine was covered in flowers at summer's end. We've had a hard freeze several days in a row last week; there will be no more morning glories blooming this year. Thats OK, I like the different seasons! We are having nice cool crisp days and the leaves are falling. 
I have a big old cactus thats pretty bland most of the time, except when it blooms. It's a night bloomer that only stays open one night. So I miss it sometimes, but when I do catch it blooming, it's quite the flower. It's about 5 inches of white petals across on a long tube about 7 inches long. Just this delicate flower. I have made several mandala from this flower, but really like this one. It almost looks like clouds this time. I liked the hint of the center square, also. 
The angle of the camera to the water was just right to catch the blue, blue of the sky as the water rippled down this mountain stream. The gray patterns in the middle are from a old weathered tree branch on the edge; the moss is on a rock. There were leaves hanging over the water, too. Temperatures are getting cooler down here, we are heading into fall.
Now that it is almost September the wildflowers are fading, and the temperatures are starting to get to 32 at night in the mountains. It's almost time to shut down the cabin. but because cameras capture the moment we can look back at the pretty flowers from earlier in the summer.
Lines always intrigue me. This grass had been knocked down and had morning dew on it. When you put these not so straight lines in a picture and rotate them around it is fun to flow and bend around following the paths that the blades of grass make. Then get lost in the center. 
Cicadas are neat bugs, even though they are pretty loud! The dog caught one the other day
A lone seagull standing in shallow water with his shadow blurred by the wave movement. The seagull shape almost reminds me of a decoy just statically standing their, but it is a real bird. Took it earlier in the spring on the Oregon coast, way before their hot weather. This has a completely different feel then the previous mandala, the water reflecting the gray of an overcast day. 
The colors in water have always amazed me. It is not always the color of the sky, water takes on colors from what ever is nearby. One time I got the sun dancing thru a creek, with wonderful gold and yellows. 
After a hot day in Colorado, we had a nice steady rain last night (some got hail - I'm glad I didn't) Above is an azalea I shot in Oregon earlier in the spring that turned into a kaleidoscopic star. Water on plants has always fascinated photographers. I saw a picture this weekend that had a flower bud with a big water drop that had a complete mountain scene upside down in the droplet.
Icicles make me feel cooler. We are having a mini-heatwave, here. The picture was taken in March - so I'm hoping that some of the cool air is circulating somewhere near!! I love the star patterns created and the upside down stars receding into the center, all from an ordinary photo.
Colorado has had a long rainy spring, which is about to end. We are supposed to be in the nineties this week. The wildflowers have been plentiful. This columbine has a drop of rainwater on the white petal. The kaleidoscope process makes it look almost as if it is a cross section of the flower. In reality it was a side view. Enjoy! Get out in nature. See what you can see!
With the cool rainy weather we have had the pansies are still going strong. But the weather is finally warming up, today was very nice! I was looking around the yard to find it mostly green, plants are just slow to get started with all the rain and cooler temps. The pansies love cooler weather, their Pansy faces are one of my favorites, I used to press them and send them in letters. If you look close there is a shimmer on the petal amongst the interesting patterns created in the mandala. 
The weatherman has promised that we will dry out this week after a lot of rain. There's lots of water in the reserviors around the area but not many are boating because it's been raining ever afternoon. Maybe we will get some warm sunshine to change all that. Above are the leaves of a skunk cabbage plant just unfolding. The crisp folds of the leaf make interesting patterns.
Colorado has been in a cycle of rain every afternoon - after being in a drought for several years it's nice to be wet again - but enough is enough especially with the hail that has accompanied the rain a couple of times! My flowers and tree leaves are in shreds. There was a rainbow yesterday and the weekend is supposed to be nicer. 
I got a look at Hudson Gardens this morning. Their iris were blooming wonderfully - but I didn't have a camera! and the Garden Railroad is quite nice! They had two trains going, an Amtrak train and a Steam engine with passenger cars. Above is a tiger lily - rearranged. 
Memorial Day weekend was a soggy event here in Colorado - but we definately need the rain. The flowers series contiunes. I loved the purple tones in the gerainum and am always surprised at the subtle colors that present themselves in the mandalas. Enjoy your long weekend!
Greenhouses are wonderful things, they allow us to have flowers almost year round! I like the subtle pastel colors of the azeleas. It's too bad they really don't grow well in Colorado. Another shot from Gulley Greenhouses. 
More flowers from the flower shoot. I've been working on getting my houseplants out for the summer in hopes I will have some blooms this summer. My poppies have started to open. I love all their showy flowers. But I did come up with some nice mandala from the greenhouse, above are the staemen and pistol from a hybiscus. 
The statue with Seaman, the dog, at the feet of the explorers Lewis & Clark is on the Promanade in Seaside, Oregon. We just got back from a trip there. Seaman's nose was at the base of the bronze statue and within reach of hands. His nose has been polished by all the people who touch it.
We have been having crazy Colorado spring weather it's snowing at the moment. Over the weekend I went on a flower shoot in a green house! There were lots of things blooming inside and many colors, but it was pretty bleak outside. And today we have snow, we don't complain too loudly because here in the arid west we need all the moisture we can get. The above flower started life as a simple daisy - I complicated it a bit, but love the color contrasts between the yellow and purple. 
We are having a greay rainy day here in Colorado, so I thought a boquet of daffodils would be appropriate! 
Spring break had weather from warm to snowy. The warmth brought some trees to bloom but a freeze was coming the day after I took the picture! This is spring in Colorado, we need the moisture, weather it comes as snow or rain.. The picture has the flowers and their shadow on a nearby rock, patterns, and more patterns.
It's green, Happy St Patrick's Day! There are green things starting to appear in my yard, it's good to be expecting spring! 
After not traveling much for a year, I have gone on two trips and have another scheduled in a week. Lots of pictures!!! Above a sycamore tree with wonderful, colorful bark. There is a butterfly shape in the point of the star.
We've had spring weather for a bit, but the cold is returning. Earlier the ice on the pond was broken up and scatered along the edge, it made an interesting patterns.
Renventing the flower is essentially what I do, radiating rays of color and shapes from a central point. I love the flur-de-lis formed at the end of the rays by the stamen and pistol of the flower. 
I got a couple amaryllis blooming mid February - they are such gorgeous blossoms. So I've taken several pictures and made several mandala. Enjoy!
Couldn't resist looking back at older pictures of Flowers of course!! In one picture a wildflower daisy had loose yellow petals that when they touched in the kaliedosocpe they appeaqred similar to a celtic knot. I had fun with this one!
We took a trip to the butterfly pavillion where they also have tidal pool creatures, among them a starfish. The one above was on the side of the tank so we got a wonderful view of all his underparts. The legs, feelers, suction cups, etc. They made for interesting patterns and it's so textural you want to reach out and touch it, to feel how rough or smooth it is!
It looks like I am on a cold streak. We are only going to get to 14 degrees today. The snow is so dry and fluffy you don't even have to scrap the car windshield! Above is the edge of some snow on a rock with shadows. I liked the crystal like shapes near the center. Stay warm!!
