Grape Hyacinths

Grape Hyacinths remind me of Spring! Now that we are in the dead of winter I would like to be reminded that there is hope for warmer weather, and plants coming to life again after the cold. Guess I should dig out the seed catalogues. Almost the New Year!

Capitol Show

The Aurora Artists Guild is showing their art work at the State Capitol Dec 2017 to March 2018 - I have three pieces in the show.

lotus center

Another summer flower - the center of a lotus.

Merry Christmas!

Well the tree is up - some ornaments and cookies made - now it's time for the Christmas Letters! Celebrate the Season and Enjoy!

dance of the stamen

The last three mandala have stamen-that's because they are at the heart of all flowers, also at the heart of the seed making goal of the flower - to provide for the next generation. Waxing philosophical here.

Day Lily from summer

I'm surprised sometimes going back over mandala for the year to find ones that jump out at me. This day lily was one, The Christmas tree is going up today!

yikes!

Yikes - it's December already and Christmas is 22 days away! I have a wreath on the door and that's about it. Good thing there are still a few more days ahead. Image is the center of a hibiscus.

Buzzing by

Buzzing by to say - Everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving!

ladybug ladybug

There were a lot of ladybugs around this summer, I'm glad - they are so helpful in the garden. Here on a rose.

Bleeding Heart

I've been gathering photos of Service members in our family- many have served. Thank you!

Pumpkin Orange

Happy Halloween!

columbine

Just like columbine flowers with their long spurs and many stamen, this one yellow.

Back to flowers

Since the first killing frost has hit, the flowers are memories of summer past. This is a dahlia, first time I've had them bloom in my garden. I liked the flower and now need to protect the roots from freezing to see if I can get it to bloom again next year.

The Spider

Spider in mandala and having a bite to eat.

spider sat down beside her

It's October - time to be spooky. When I took in my house plants for the fall this spider came along with the staghorn fern. When I discovered her I gently but quickly removed her and her web to the outside, where I took some pictures. Whew! She is well camouflaged and quite big about a quarter in size.

painted ladies

Painted Lady butterflies are migrating through Denver area mid September. I have seen a lot of them about on my flowers. They are in the previous mandala and this cross.

study in orange

Butterflies again, saw some this morning flitting around my lobelia.

butterfly in black and white

The photo club I belong to has competitions in color and black and white, so this is butterfly in black and white. Some pictures lend themselves to this others not so much.

butterfly

Patterns, Patterns, patterns - the scalloped edges of the butterfly wings were wonderful repeated patterns.

Lotus

All the water lilies and lotus are beautiful plants, here a pink lotus.

victoria amazonia

The water lilies and lotus are out in a splendid display at the Denver Botanic Gardens Monet Pool. Even with cooler summer temperatures the Victoria Amazonia lily is blooming (they like it hot). It is the lily with giant lily pads - so the expanse of blank space in the mandala above is the surface of one big lily pad. A bloom and a bud are shown with reflection in the water. Victoria Amazonia lilies are night bloomers, so it probably opened the night before. Other lilies open in the daytime and close at night.

water lily twirl

Just for fun I used the 'twirl' function in Photoshop.

water lily

The water lilies are in their prime. Beautiful of course. I liked the sparkles of light at the edge of the lily pad.

Date Palm

These growths are from the date trees at the Denver Botanic Gardens. They really are orange and red. It's a bit busy, more than I usually like but still an interesting overall pattern.

globe thistle

Sometimes negative space is OK in the middles of the picture - it bothered me at first but them grew on me. Also they made the outline of a star shape. These are globe thistles that were next to a bright pink flower at the Denver Botanic Gardens.

bee on echinacea

A blog I follow called "The Still Blog" has a description of "the word echinacea comes from the greek word for hedgehog (echinos), because of its spiny central cone" I thought it interesting that sometimes in different places we are looking at the same thing.

bee

My last trip to the Gardens had lots of bee pictures, so thought I'd turn them into a mandala. This flower is a purple Echinacea and the bee's wings happened to line up to make another circle within the circle.

Hot Day Hot Flower

It really is hot again and as I was scrolling thur my Mandala this one just looked hot. It's an orange poppy. I'm sure its the orange color!

4th of July

Sometimes a plant provides a mandala shape all on it's own - with no help from me. Skeleton of an allium blossom.

PASTEL

From bright colors to a pastel orange - still a flower. This time a sedum. I like the stem patterns formed in the middle, too.

mostly red

If you look back several posts - I like color green, purple, yellow, and now 'mostly red'. Flowers are a very appropriate subject for color and they have interesting shapes!

Yellow Columbine

I just like columbines; like the arching of the spurs; like the stamens in front. I like that the blue ones are our state flower. Above were taken at the Botanic Gardens, but they should be showing up in the wild, soon!

iris

The iris at the botanic gardens were beautiful. I loved the purple fall on this one.

New Growth

Back to the Denver Botanic Gardens after our hail and snow! Plants still blooming, thank goodness. This bush of new growth was backlit by the sun and just popped out at me.

Bleeding Heart Flower

I picked the bleeding heart flower before the last frost got it and also took a picture. I like the way the branches cross at the edge and the interplay of the flower shapes in the middle.

First Friday Opening

Hello All I have 3 Mandala in this show - opening should be interesting with music and a glass demonstration!

just tulips

Simplicity - just tulips.

Calla Lily

This yellow orange calla lily at the Botanic Gardens was a gorgeous color and I liked the simple shape it made in repetition.

leaf edges

The previous mandala was taken from this picture. Edges are very important in how we see the world. They define where our vision goes, stops and travels around.

Colorful leaves

Took another trip to the Denver Botanic Gardens, the tulips are out and they are starting to put up the Calder sculptures to be featured this summer. The leaves in this mandala were inside in the greenhouse, I just loved the colors.

Water Droplets

Water droplets always intrigue me. I have come close to having an upside down reflection in one, but not this time. The stair step opening on the stucco patios in Sedona made the diamond shapes in the middle of the mandala.

Agave

Down in the desert southwest there are many types of agave, this one happens to be a variegated version growing in the red rocks.

different angle same church

This is not the front on view in the mandala but still a version of the Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona Arizona. I love that it is built into the rocks. Grounded.

Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona, AZ

This is a hard building to photograph, because the best view of the whole building is from right below and there is really not much parking there. We were lucky - all you need is one space - which we found. The building is a big box with a cross in the window, simple but beautiful. I had one judge at photo club say why make it a circle it would stand just as well as a single shot. So I'll let you judge, I'll post the original shot tomorrow.

sunset

Sunset clouds from the previous mandala.

sunset clouds

On our way to Arizona just before Flagstaff the sky lit up in a fiery show of color. It literally lit up the whole western sky. Beautiful!

cloud convergance

I love clouds, all types fluffy, flat wave clouds, storm clouds, sunrise/sunset clouds. This is an 8 pointed star made from 16 repeated and reversed pie pieces, which means it's only a small slice of my picture. Just for fun!