Nature

"In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous" . . Aristotle

Hope you have enjoyed my nature offerings through the year.

more Christmas lights

The celebration of lights to bring back the sun - another Solstice is past. A special one with a complete eclipse of the moon. Stayed up to watch it. It really got dark when the moon was covered by the earth's shadow. Above are trees from the Blossoms
of Light at the Denver Botanic Gardens

more from Southwest trip

A different iew of Delicate Arch.

Christmas greetings

Thought I would add this mandala to the blog it's only about 12 days before Christmas. The picture has blue lights strung on trees at the Denver Botanic Gardens Blossoms of Light display. It looks like a field of stars to me. Hope you enjoy it too.

December already!!

I got to play in November now December has crashed down on me. I called this picture 'After the Crash" because these are the eddies and patterns formed after a wave hit the rocks. We were in Hawaii in November, on a trip around Oahu we watched the waves from a vantage point above the ocean.

saying by Ashley Smith

I love quotes and sometimes they fit into my work. I'm a naturalist at heart so this is a good fit. Also the stamens almost make it look like a flower bubble around the edge of the words. Enjoy the little things in life!

from sunset to sunrise

There was a gorgeous sunrise this morning in Colorado. Orange was being reflected into the room even before you could see the actual sky. Wow!

another trip

New trip - sunset! Much warmer than home!

more red rocks

When we got to Monument Valley it was overcast, but as it was getting closer to sunset the clouds broke up and we had some wonderful late afternoon sun on the rocks. Above is one of the 'mittens' times 4. Saw lots of different rocks on this trip.

Happy Halloween!

A day late in my greetings! - Had some kids come to the door but not too many.

crows

I'm fascinated by crows and ravens saw a bunch of the later on my trip thru Utah. Never did get a very good picture of a group of them, even still they are fun to watch. There were a bunch of crows coming thru my neighborhood the other day so I went to get the camera and got a couple of pictures before they left the scene, the one above had a backdrop of fallen leaves. Happy day before Halloween!

slot canyon

Couldn't resist making one of the Antelope Canyon shots into a mandala. It almost looks like stalactites and stalagmites but with birghter colors.

colors

This past summer I went to watch hot air balloons in Steamboat. Colors are fun to play with no matter their source, even reflections of colors.

Oct 13th

Antelope Canyon outside Page, Arizona has the most interesting rock formations. It is a slot canyon worn down by water over many many years. The light is amazing! If you can go there go!

Fall Color

It was an overcast day on our way home from the Southwest. The aspen were headed down from their peak but still very pretty! It's a pleasure to live in Colorado!

Painted Desert

A trip to Arizona and Blue Mesa in the Petrified Forest - it is really blue!! An unexpected color for the landscape.

hay bales

Hay bales and the yellow brown earth. It must be fall!

red and green

Leaves are starting to turn. Thought it was interesting that this dandelion was half red and half green. All the twigs on the ground made almost a Church rose window pattern.

rainbow

At the cabin I have a crystal that rotates in the morning via solar power. It animates the whole dining/living area with rainbows. I caught a patch of color on a log above. They are just fun to watch.

Purple Morning Glory

It is a glorious fall like day - September has arrived! There are still morning glories opening a new and tomatoes turning red. This morning glory was climbing over a jade plant. I like the square pattern that forms when you have 8 pie pieces making up the circle. I plan to enjoy the fall weather.

Cereus Flower

While I was playing with this image it reminded me of jewelry - I wanted to put jewels in the four directions on the circle. If you look closely the center is a dark blue - I could put lapis in the center -it is a semiprecious stone that is usually rich azure blue. The gold are the stamens of the flower. It really is a night blooming cereus getting ready to close, the full sun was on it for a while this morning illuminating it's delicate petals.

building reflections

Was driving downtown the other day and decided to take some pictures looking up. Reflections are neat - you never know what the distortion in the glass is going to look like.

Butterflies

Butterfly wings are full of color and patterns, above from one of the blue Morpho of Peru.

Shows for the end of Summer

I have 3 mandalas in the Artist Member Group show at the Depot in Steamboat Springs, CO. It was a rainy weekend - its monsoon season. I helped set up, and stayed long enough at the opening to enjoy some of the home made food the other artists brought.

Glowing Edges

Hey, it's August already, we are on the downhill side of Summer! I took pictures at the Botanic Gardens - with lots of flowers to choose from. Above is a clematis but it's hard to tell because I used the feature called glowing edges to create the picture. Sharp edges are what makes a photo, so this is just a different treatment of the edge, which turned out kind of fun. Enjoy.

posterised columbine

The columbines are out in force in the Colorado Mountains. Thought I would try something different - I liked the effect and will try it again with other pictures.

log and shadow

The shadow cast by the wind ornament made interesting patterns on the log ends.

4th of July fireworks

Three cheers for fireworks! - I always want the display to go on forever. But of course it stops and you have to go home. I'm grateful, I got to watch with my kids and grand kids this year.

minimal

I love leaf vein patterns and added a touch of color by including a bud of a blue geranium.

liquefy

I decided to play around with the liquefy function in Photoshop. The original picture is several buds of an amaryllis. It was fun!

blue water iris

Here in Colorado we are on the roller coaster weather wise, from warm to hot to cold today and lots of rain. The rain is good - Colorado always needs a drink, just not the hail that sometimes accompanies it. The land iris have come and gone and now the water iris put on their show. It's too bad they don't last longer into the summer season. That's why I take pictures!

It's June already!

The yellow water iris have started blooming, they have interesting rust colored lines on the petal fall which make up the pattern in the middle. I keep experimenting with new camera and old to see if I can tell the difference between them. I'm not sure I can.

Iris

Playing around with a new camera I got part of the flower in focus and part not. But I liked the results and the wonderful wrinkled texture in the violet color.

water droplet

Colorado is getting ready to warm up! We are supposed to be in the 80's this weekend! A plant with some of the water from May - droplets and color.

Glowing Tulip

Another flower from my Salt Lake Trip. The tulips were gorgeous and the sun was falling just right on the layers of this tulip.

Red bud tree

red bud tree flowers in front of a store window and shadows on the concrete.

Desert Botanic Gardens

Everything was blooming at the Desert Botanic Gardens in Phoenix, when we were down there at the end of March. Glorious! The yellow tunas on the cactus provided a bright yellow color to the blue and reddish color on the flat pads of another cactus.

Easter Lily

I love the smell of Easter Lilies in the morning after being in a closed in space all night.

fish hook cactus

Serious cactus spines make wonderful patterns and the yellow tunas were so bright. These are from Arizona.

WWII Red Cross Bicycle

Another curious display at the Wings Over the Rockies was the other vehicles there. In the display of WWII planes there was a Red Cross Bicycle. The wheels patterns were interesting.

propeller

The propeller for one of the old planes. It made a neat pattern and the wood texture was very nice.

Tesla coil

When we went to the Wings over the Rockies museum they had a Tesla coil there. My grandson was playing with it creating interesting patterns of electricity shooting through the ball, thus the picture!

rocket engine

We recently took our grandson to the Wings Over the Rockies an air and space museum, they had a rocket engine there. Above are patterns from the rocket engine. We had fun looking at all the stuff!

Red Tailed Hawk

The eye's have it! I stumbled across this picture I had taken of a captive red tailed hawk and the feather patterns reached out to touch me. The interesting thing about this photo is that the captive bird was blind in one eye - by virtue of the camera I have given him several eyes!

frosted grass

This grass and seed head were edged in frost and made an interesting pattern when turned into a mandala. This was taken a year ago down in Monte Vista when we went to see the sand hill cranes, very cold and snowy. We get a reprieve from the weather here in Denver this week. It will be mostly in the 50s, a hint of spring!!

White orchid

I love all the varied shapes and colors that orchids come in and I love playing around with them. I keep hoping for spring - the snow does melt faster now and the temps are a bit higher, so there is hope!

squirrel tracks

The critters sharing the cold snowy months with us are fun to watch, especially the squirrel's. The are the clowns of the garden, jumping from tree to fence to bird feeder. One made a pretty clear track in the light dusting of snow on the driveway.

Pelicans sitting on a sandbar

I just liked these guys all lined up, looking like they walk on water. There was a row of them all puffed out and one coming in for a landing. The red in the middle is the legs of the next pelican in line.

more water droplets

Another version of the water droplet. I like this one because of the drops suspended in mid air over the green area. The flower was a white ivy geranium with pinkish red streaks. I played with these flower pictures for a while, it was fun seeing what kind of effect I could achieve.

water droplets

With a water droplet you can get a highlight in a flower, just like you look for one in a good animal picture. This one reminded my of a jewel when I made the circle picture, a sparkly mandala.