Color Me November 4

The art group I belong to hosts a virtual gallery each month and the prompt for November was "Color Me November". I spent ages out and about trying to come up with a variety of images that might fit. But as submission day was November 1 they were always going to be a little premature to exactly fit the prompt.

Then I was reading a friend's blog and discovered that there is an effort out there among bloggers to create a new post every day in November. H'mm, that sounds very ambitious for me. But what about if I made my own rules? I will try to combine "Color Me November" and post every second day. I'll use a combination of photos taken that very day and some from my files that I want to share.

Sounds like a plan.

The first Tuesday here in the USA is election day. Right at sunset yesterday I was frantically trying to set up a quick vignette to illustrate that point.

Yes, I did vote. Remember those glorious photos of the crepe myrtle tree a couple of days back? Those leaves are falling fast.

 It's a beautiful sunny day here and my #1 son has decided it is perfect weather for raking up the leaves - perfect or not he and I are doing this every second day right now.

 The turtle has voted to head for warmer climes.

 Did I share this one already? I had fun setting it up during a lull in proceedings on Studio Tour weekend.

One last shot is this vignette I have arranged for the kitchen table.

Getting back to the first photo; I call that "Squirrel Nutkin was Here". I kept finding little piles of the leavings of acorns that the squirrels had feasted on. Those big acorns would be wonderful photo props I thought but sadly, the squirrels did not let me in on the secret of where to find the really big ones. Interestingly I have noticed that this Fall we seem to have way fewer black walnuts around the yard than usual (they stain whatever they land on and I can never get them open although the squirrels sure can!) but way more acorns. This likely tells us something about the coming winter. But what?

You can find the virtual gallery by going to http://www.greatfallsstudios.com/virtualgallery-new.php

Okay, that's two for November.

Fabulous Fall Colors in my Neck of the Woods

The colors have been magnificent this fall season and it has been really difficult trying to choose just a few photos to post here.

Let's try and narrow the choices to ones from my back yard and a handful from the village I have called my hometown now for 15 fall seasons.

In no particular order here...

 Autumn confetti in the back yard.

 Playing with seasonal color.

Crepe myrtle foliage on Wednesday...

 Crepe myrtle closeup on Thursday. I suspect a very similar one appeared here last year as I am captivated by the way these leaves color themselves for the season.

Crepe myrtle on Friday. I am focusing on this tree because I might have to make a difficult decision to either take it out or have it pruned fairly harshly. It is a beautiful specimen but I fear it is getting too big for where it is planted at the end of the deck. This is shading the deck to the extent I am getting green patches on the deck flooring and the branches are overhanging the roof in a way that makes the landscape guys and the pest guy tsk tsk.

 I love watching the early sun begin to light up the trees across the road. And on this morning the moon was hanging around to admire the view also.

 The library parking lot has a variety of tree colors.

 These wonderful foliage colors were a real showstopper in the library driveway.

 The color contrast between this tree and the quilt shop are an amazing advertisement for the wonderful array of fabrics inside.

Every time I drive up to the village I pass this pond, on private property, on a bad corner with very little area to pull over or stand to enjoy while photographing. But on this day I couldn't resist. It was necessary to dodge traffic and I felt a little uneasy about spending too long in finding the perfect location. But I was pretty happy with this shot. The next day I passed by and there were ducks and swans swimming on the pond which would surely have added a beautiful foreground to a photo but I decided to keep driving. Oh well.

 Here in an overlooked portion of the front garden these chrysanthemums are turning on quite a show. The location, under the ornamental plum tree and behind a boxwood border, keep this area somewhat hidden. That is why I use the spot to poke in plants I want to get rid of from elsewhere in the  garden but yet feel like they need one last chance. It is not perhaps a color combination I would have consciously chosen but, gee, they do look really good in this peak of bloom don't you think?

I was upstairs and in the midst of looking to photograph the treetops in their fine fall foliage when I spotted this plane flying overhead.

To close out the post I thought flying south for the season might be a reasonable way to finish up.

Finding Stillness in Rivers, Manitoba

There has been a distinct lack of posts this summer - have you noticed?

I've been sorta busy, doing this, doing that. One of the major this/that items was managing an art exhibit that is on show for the month of September. What with recruiting, installation, judging, the reception and take-down I shoehorned a personal trip in there for September 22 thru 26. Manitoba, Canada was the destination and the purpose was to be a part of the Finding Stillness photographic workshop hosted by Kim Klassen .

Full disclosure, I am currently doing a yearlong online class with Kim; Be Still 52.

Anyways, at oh dark thirty on Tuesday past I headed out to the airport with the destination of Winnipeg. Once there I collected my rental car and following the curious directions (head out of the airport, take a right on Berry, go until you can't go straight and then turn right on Portage. Now drive straight for about two hours and you will be in Brandon where your hotel is) I did indeed get to the Best Western hotel. For this, my first ever visit to Canada, I was unprepared for the concept of that long straight, flat drive. There were amazing sky views with wonderful clouds and lots of prairie landscape but I had my black Elantra pointed west and was reluctant to pull over.

Four other ladies who were also workshop participants were staying at the same hotel so we joined up the next morning to drive to Rivers, the location of Kim's brand new Studio.

 The workshop was a three day one. Finding Stillness is as much about making personal time as it is about setting up still-life vignettes to photograph. Each day we had a one hour quiet time to totally immerse ourselves in personal activity. On day two I wanted to take a walk around the small town of Rivers to explore. The weather was quite un-co-operative with a persistent light misty rain and I was able to take "moody" shots without having to make special settings on my camera. As you can see the leaves have started to turn already.

 Meanwhile back in the Studio Kim had provided many options for us to photograph. I liked the seasonal color these gourds (?) provided.

 It was a delight to also have Xanthe with us. Herself a noted photographer xantheberkeley.com she was joining us from London and was always willing to pose for us so we could include people shots. Thank you Xanthe, it was a treat to listen to you, watch you and photograph you.

 Here's a Still Life I created using wooden spoons handcrafted by Xanthe's husband, Luke Hope. You can see more of his wonderful pieces at hopeinthewoods.com  Initially I had a setup that was all brown and cream but, hey, I like color. By adding the blueberries and the cut strawberry I was happy with this composition.

Another lovely lady assisting with the workshop was Aeleen Sclater aka prairiegirlstudio.ca.  We heard all about her gorgeous homestead and garden and were treated to many examples plucked from that garden. Ooh, those carrots looked good!

Kim has a faithful companion, the very engaging wonder dog, Ben. He was right there with us most of the time and such a gorgeous and obedient pet. On Friday morning we went on a nature walk to the local reserve.

We found amazing spider webs...

seed heads...

 

and this intriguing sign which proclaimed that "licensed trapping was not permitted". So go for it people, unlicensed trapping should be lots of fun!

During quiet time on Friday prairie girl Aeleen set up her harp and delighted us with beautiful soothing melodies. All the more special when you find out that her husband has handbuilt this and four other harps for her to play. A part of Aeleen has come home with each workshop participant in the form of a CD and I so look forward to listening to that when I am creating in my own studio.

In closing, here's the street view of The Studio. Right across the road is a large mural which reflects in the front windows. From inside it gives the impression that it is always a blue sky sunny day outside.  But for this photo I liked the colors of the blue bike, the orange pumpkins and the yellow chrysanthemums sparking up the black backdrop of the Studio.

It was a wonderful few days of Finding Stillness. Thanks so much Kim! I now have a library of photos to select from all full of wonderful props and more so generously shared by you Kim.

July Already?

Good gracious, I did not realize it has been such a long time since I posted anything here - this boggles my mind! Today's the day to update featuring current photos from my garden.

A couple of days ago we hung the second humming bird feeder. The first one went up sometime in April to catch the first wave of hummers. Since then I have kept food in there for sporadic feeding sessions but in the last week it seemed as though more frequent visits were being made to the feeder and so it was time to put up the additional feeding station.

Out in my front garden the echinacea/coneflowers are in full bloom along with a few "wild flowers" like white yarrow, some self seeded blackeyed susans (they don't meet the criteria for color scheme so I really need to pull their bold yellow presence out!) and  some out-of-camera blue salvia. But the coneflowers are the showstopper. I was expecting a friend to stop by on Friday and wondered what had delayed her - I looked out the front window and there she was with her camera snapping away at the coneflowers and the butterflies and bees that were also visiting.

Later on I went out with my own camera and was so pleased to be able to see sights like this one. Many of the plant choices I make for my garden are focused on what will attract butterflies, bees and hummingbirds so it is with special pleasure that I take photographs like this one.

This July 4th was a disagreeable weather day. The rain seemed at it's worst around 10am when our village usually has their annual July 4th parade. So no parade visit or photos this year. (The start of the parade was delayed until 10.30am but by then I had decided not to go.) Instead I tried to compose some Still Life set ups. Above, a small bouquet plucked from my garden includes a mix of the planted (blue salvia and red leaves from the nandina) and the volunteers/selfseeders (white daisies, blue delphiniums, white yarrow).

My blue garden at the top of the driveway is living up to it's name right now with ageratum, salvia, delphinium and lavendar.

Out back I'm thrilled to see the bee balm/monarda fulfilling it's name and attracting lots of good bees to the garden.

Meanwhile in defiance of the weather I continued with my quest to create some Still Life setups. Kiwis were appealing once I found this perfectly colored bowl and a box of the fruit meant I had plenty of specimens for both photo sessions and as a way of getting some beneficial vitamins into my diet this week.

A vignette for July 4th.

And a homage to the flag filled with some personal memories.

Easter Blooms

After a long cold winter I have been keenly watching out for signs my garden is beginning to awaken for spring. It has responded in the last few days to bring me some blossoms for Easter to share with you.

The first daffodils to bloom in my garden each year are these ones which finally burst into full bloom on Thursday, April 2.  The temperature that day was a startling 75F which doubtless gave many buds a surprise. The next day temperatures were a more seasonal low 60'sF.

 These scillas were planted to border a perennial bed but this years perennials have yet to make an appearance and the fallen blooms from last year are still waiting to be cleaned up.

 On Good Friday as I roamed around with my camera this, the only Hellebore to make it through the winter, was still in bud. The common name is Lenten Rose so it was going to have to hurry to live up to it's name.

 The Easter Bunny brings blooms instead of chocolate eggs for me.

 To bring some spring color inside a bunch of alstroemeria adds a touch of pastel pink.

 Still looking like winter in the black walnut tree. But what you can't see is the long melodious song the male cardinal was singing while I did my best to photograph him from the upstairs window.

 The maple tree is budding...

 The plum tree, again reliably the first tree to bloom for the season in my garden popped out with it's pink display on Good Friday.

 The white dogwood buds are there but it will be a few more weeks before they bloom. In behind them are more maple buds.

The bird house is in dire need of a renovation and redecoration but it may be too late.

 Today, Easter Day, there are at last some open blooms on the hellebore. They need a shady spot but this shady spot is, by default, also the one where the snow sits the longest and that has delayed blooms opening I guess.

And one last look at the plum tree. Next to come will be the cherry trees also here at the front of the house. Once they are in bloom they steal the limelight so I wanted to give the plum tree it's moment of glory.