Category Archives: Abstracts

Attempts made to break outside of my engineering mentality

Sometimes More is Better

“Maple Leaf and Raindrops Abstract”
Heatherwood Garden

Simple images are fun to play with. I first photographed this vignette as a simple image of a leaf, a few branches, and raindrops. I liked the image, but then went beyond and asked myself, “If a single image was nice, how would multiple images combined look?” Sometimes more is better.

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Experimenting

“Raindrops on Hana Matoi Abstract”
Heatherwood Spring

Yesterday, my post was of individual raindrops on our Hana Matoi Japanese maple. Today’s image is what happened when I added a little motion blur to the image. A little playful creativity can make magic.

Note: the little white curves are individual raindrops.

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I don’t know what it is, but it’s sure pretty.

“Ground Cover ?”
Yakima Area Arboretum, WA

Meandering along in the Yakima Arboretum Japanese garden, I looked down and saw this stringy ground cover. It was full of oranges, purples, greens, yellows, and turquoise colors. I don’t have any idea of what kind of ground cover it is, but I really need to get some for our Heatherwood garden.

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Brighten My Day !

“Autumn Abstract”
Bellevue Botanical Garden

The day may be gray outside, but my mind doesn’t have to think that way. As I write this post, fog has moved in and engulfed our garden and the surrounding hills. All I have to do to brighten my day is to look back on some of my images created at a brighter time. This image just jumped out of my collection and beckoned to be chosen to be in my post.

Even on a dark dreary winter day there is always something to brighten the day. It may be beautiful music, an interesting read, an engaging conversation, a quick glance of something intriguing, or just a simple warm thought. Every day is precious. It is our opportunity to make the best of it!

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Beauty Is In The Details

“Winter Perennials”
Heatherwood Meadow

As I walk around, my eyes wander all around. I look in the distance and see the snow covered hills. I look side to side and see the surrounding trees, shrubs, and meadows. I see a path leading to who knows where. I turn around and see where I have been. I look up and see beautiful clouds in the sky. I stumble and look at my feet. I see abstract detailed patterns staring back at me.

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Winter Mushrooms

“Snow Covered Yarrow and Rudbeckia”
Heatherwood Meadow

When I first saw this clump of snow-covered yarrow and rudbeckia, I thought that they looked like a field of mushrooms. Mary thought that they looked like a field of cotton. What is the purpose of a garden but to enjoy, dream, and imagine!

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360 Degrees of Art

“Ceiling in Vatican Museum”
The Vatican

It was extremely hard for me to walk through the Vatican Museum. Glorious art surrounded me from all angles; ceilings, wall, floors. I kept stumbling around and running into other touring visitors. “Mi scusi” was my most common phrase. I was glad that I was tall, so I could look over the other tourists. At times when I stopped to create a photo, I felt like I was a lone tower in the middle of a stream of wandering people.

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Big Head

“Tindaro Screpolato by sculptor Igor Mitoraj”
Boboli Gardens, Florence, Italy

Commonly known as the ‘Giant Head’ the Tinder Screpolato was a huge contrast to the other Renaissance sculptures in the Medici’s Boboli Gardens in Florence. After a long morning walk through residential Florence we ended up at the Medeci Palace and the attached Boboli Gardens. It was hot, 90 degrees plus, and our water bottles were empty. We walked up the garden hill to a large grass lawn and saw this giant head. We stopped looked at the sculpture and decided it was a good time to walk back to our hotel and take a nap.

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Wheels Forever

“Wheels, Wheels, and More Wheels”
Damien Barn, Unionville, WA

The line of wheels seem to go on forever. What is the history behind each one? How many years ago were they in use? What type of vehicle were they used on, and what were they used for? Were they part of an implement or a mechanism of transport? So many questions I have? It would a wonderful experience to walk along the fence with an “old timer” and hear him talk about where the wheels came from.

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