Aguinaldo

In Santa Fe, I learned how to make an aguinaldo to collect the candy spilled by breaking a pinata. Peace on Earth and a Happy New Year!

lights and more lights

Christmas is lights! Enjoy your families and Enjoy the season!

lights in the gardens

It's time for Celebration in the City! Blossoms of Light is up and running at the Denver Botanic Gardens. This year they floated glowing balls in the water, the light can reflect off the water or ice depending on how cold it is. They created interesting patterns for the above mandala.

Rose Pink

Back to pink and now it's time for red and green!

bee on yellow

A more lemony yellow almost finished with the color wheel.

and yellow

and a yellow sunflower to brighten up our snowy day!

green

Outside it is very white, snowy and cold, but there are still some colors to go in the wheel - thus green leaves of the water iris.

more blue

This is almost all blue sky, with the addition of some oak leaves.

Blue

The blue of the water - the lily floats in. The blue is a reflection of the sky!

more purple

From a leaf to a flower this is a purple dahlia with some pinkish highlights.

Purple

Had to take a picture of the intense purple of this coleus that was in a large container. Hadn't seen such intense purple color before.

red

Redish petals of the Stargazer Lily.

Red Orange

All these colors are from flowers! I believe the bright colors in the above mandala were out of focus poppies.

Pink

Pink because there was some pink in the last post. Impatiens.

Color wheel Orange

Decided I would go around the color wheel with my Mandala. Halloween was orange, this zinnia has an overall orange feeling, too. Flowers just lend themselves to bright colors. Next an orange red!

Halloween

We took off for a short vacation the last weekend of October and I forgot to upload my Halloween Spider. He was in the garden doing good, but he looks kind of spooky!

Different color

More Engleman Ivy pink and green.

Fall Leaves

These are the Engleman Ivy leaves that turn a nice orange/red every year on my fence. These were a little bug eaten which added to the design. Enjoy fall We are having an extended one here in Colorado!

Hairbell

Hairbells from the mountains, against a white background.

cleome

Cleome is a flower with lots of long (6") stamens that extend beyond the flower, giving it a spidery effect that is multiplied in the Mandala. Fun!

green and purple

A flower – color green and purple in a star shape

Swallows2

Here they are in a regular shot

Swallows

On my last trip to the gardens there were several swallows sitting on some roof trusses. They were just chirping away and they made an interesting pattern - sort of like birds on a wire.

corpse flower ending

Went back to the Botanic Gardens today and this is what is left of the corpse flower.

corpse flower

Just because it was such a sensation here in Denver, I add my only picture of the corpse flower.  I did not stand in line for 5 hours to see it actually open - they had a web cam I could look at from my recliner at home.  I tried to make it into a mandala but it was to long and narrow.  

Star Gazer Lily

This is a star gazer lily - they make a beautiful flower and smell heavenly.  I liked the pastel feeling of the colors in this mandala,  It almost felt like a snowflake, because of the white tips of the petals.. 

Bubble Storm

Always on the lookout for better bubble blowers.  Think we found a pretty good one this year.  The bubbles showed up against the black background of the outdoor grill cover.  The colors in the middle are my grandson's tie dye T-shirt. Liked the way the bubbles seem to move.

Lily Cross

A different version of a cross pattern, this time with an Asian lily prominent in the design.  Liked the way the stamens reach and gather toward the center.

White Paintbrush

Wildflowers are pretty in the high country this year, above a white paintbrush. 

Salsify

Have always loved the big seed heads of salsify, like a big dandelion to pick and blow them away. They are about 3 inches in diameter and are a natural circle themselves.  But with the kaleidoscope program I can make them even more round, this one has a star inside another star! 

striped cana

A striped cana from the Botanic Gardens, the ribbons in mandala before made a striped pattern as well.  

ribbon decorated tree

I had fun with this one, with the repeated patterns of the ribbons festooning a tree in a courtyard.  We were visiting Sedona last year when I found this, also liked the mosaic effect in the middle.

original doodle

Doodle that made the previous mandala.  You can see where the curves are and where the pie piece was taken from.  

Zentangle Doodle turned kaleidoscope

As long as we are on doodles, here is a Zentangle doodle I have colored in using the Photoshop fill bucket.  Did you know that there are 'adult' coloring pages online!  I will post the original next. I liked the way things curved and curled in this kaleidoscope rendition.  

doodle 2

Same doodle looked at from a different angle (different pie piece of the scan).  Completely different! Neat!

doodle

I doodle when I am in meetings, not sure what that means, but some of them are quite detailed.  So I scan them into the computer and put them through the kaleidoscope program.  Above is one version.  Granted the kaleidoscope makes it more complicated by coping it.  I liked this one and I'll upload another one from the same doodle soon.  

Succulent

This is a succulent against a concrete wall at the Denver Botanic Gardens.  I liked the pastel colors.  Someone said it looked like a quilt (the middle specifically)  We had a brief spat of sunny weather and now a couple more days of rain.  At least here we haven.t had the violent weather, some of the rest of Colorado has had.   

tulip bud

I liked the broad leaves of this tulip, the bud, and there were rain drops too. We are starting a trend - the sun is shining this morning!

feather mandala

I found some downy feathers in the backyard a while back, put them on a yellow paper.  I liked the star that formed in the middle.  It reminded me of an Indian shield, but needs a little more color.

Snow on the Patio Umbrella

Spring in Colorado can bring any kind of weather, in 2015 again on Mother's Day we had snow.  This year we had 13 1/2 inches in my backyard which draped the patio furniture in snow (and broke several tree limbs).  I liked the pattern the folded umbrella, chair and table gave the mandala.  The top of the umbrella is toward the middle of the mandala, the table and chair toward the edge.

Pasque Flower

Took a trip to the Denver Botanic Gardens to see what flowers were out - lots of tulips, but other things as well.  The Pasque flower above is an early flower, it has fuzz hairs to keep it warm especially at higher altitudes.  They were very abundant in the rock garden section of the gardens.  I loved the way the green parts crisscrossed and the fuzziness added a softness to the above mandala. 

Spring again

Spring is back, with the birds singing and the trees leafing out.  (Those that survived the crazy freeze  last fall)  Above is the purple lilac starting to bloom.  The tulips were out at Denver Botanic Gardens and this morning's news said that there was a fairy tulip affair going on in Boulder today! 

a good snow

We got 6 inches of good wet snow for the thirsty earth.  It has melted off today; the mountains are still getting snow.  My lone red tulip survived the snow.

Celebration of Life

Family used one of my mandala for the memorial card.

And if I should go before you

My sister passed away - she will be missed!

Staghorn Fern

At the base of the staghorn fern there are round pads and then the frond part that sticks out.  Picture above is where the two parts meet.  My husband walked by and said it looked Egyptian. I was going to say architectural, in either case it is rather striking for a plant form.  

Buffalo

It's not a circle, but I liked the buffalo we saw at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal yesterday with the birds perched on one back. Still snow on the ground - but warmer weather than we've had lately!

More Snow

Snow on a vine in 4 parts.  I liked the way the twigs fell and intertwined with the snow piling up on the top edges. (Still I'm ready for Spring!)

Albuquerque Sunset

Two posts ago I had a sunrise, here is a sunset over Albuquerque. Loved the clouds.

Patio Furniture Snow

A local news anchor doesn't like people sending in pictures of the snow on their patio furniture, but thought this one was a little different.  With most of the nation under cold and snow, here is about 8 inches of snow on my patio table.  Fortunately it is melting off between snows here in Denver, but another storm is headed our way this weekend.  We will really be glad for Spring when it finally arrives.