“Wheat Dunes”
The Palouse, Washington
Conversation to myself: Squinting my I eyes I ask, “Where am I?” “Are these the rolling dunes of Death Valley? I thought I was in Eastern Washington. There are sand dunes in Eastern Washington. Aren’t there?” I slightly open my squint and see a shade of green. “No, this isn’t Death Valley.” I open my eyes further and see the textures of young winter wheat. “It’s the Palouse!”
“T.A. Leonard Barn Abstract”
The Palouse, Washington
Sometimes I feel like I need to play. What more needs to be said.
“Orangeola & Kotoji Abstract”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden
Today is a very special day full of sweet and happy memories of the past. Many times we spent the day walking through gardens around the areas where we lived. On our adventures, we were always keeping our eyes and mind open to observe the beauty surrounding us, both natural and man-made. We collected ideas on what we could bring home to our own garden.
Other years we would explore various garden centers and purchase new additions for our garden. We couldn’t wait to plant the new acquisitions. Here at Heatherwood, I have been able to draw on these previous experiences to develop a Japanese-influenced garden in part of our property. Strolling through Heatherwood takes me back to prior wonderful memories and stimulates me to enjoy the present and look forward to bright future days.
“Forest Pansy Redbud”
Heatherwood Spring
Heatherwood continues to give up something new and interesting every time we stroll around the garden. Little elements of nature abound at every turn. These gifts are for the taking. I just need to recognize them and add a little creativity.
“Impressionistic Variegated Redtwig Dogwood”
Heatherwood Spring
As I stroll around Heatherwood, I am constantly on the alert for those little vignettes that catch my eye. For this shaded scene, I first noticed contrasting blue and green colors. Looking closer, the contrasting textures of grasses, the variegated redtwig dogwood, and the background blue spruce add to the interest. Reviewing the image on my computer, I thought that it would be interesting to view it as a painting. I added an impressionistic flair to achieve this image.
Spent Rose
Heatherwood Winter
Nothing is perfect … nothing is permanent … nothing is complete. Wabi-sabi is a characteristic concept of our Heatherwood garden. I find beauty in every aspect of imperfection throughout our garden. This spent rose was a beautiful red flower in its prime. The summer flower’s fleeting beauty transitioned to these stems and rose hips in the fall and winter. In nature the hips would release the seeds to the ground. Its life is incomplete as the seeds create new plants.
I admire the beauty of this rose stalk and hips every day as I sit and read and look out our family room window. They fascinate me. I do not have the heart or desire to prune the winter roses to make them look neat. I just simply enjoy them as they are. There is plenty of time to prune the roses before the spring growth.
Beebaum Multi-exposure
Fountainville, PA Garden
While searching through old images to help me come up with new ideas for enhancing our meadow for Heatherwood, I came upon several images of an arrangement of red and purple beebaum perennials. Aha! … the images blurred in my mind and I came up with the above abstract.
More practically, the image did give me an idea. We currently have red beebaums in the garden. They are relatively sparse and the tall blooms droop after a wind. The purple beebaum is a lower growing species and will prop the taller growing red blooms up as well as provide a nice complement shade to the arrangement.
“Rudbeckia Cezanne Style”
Heatherwood Meadow
As I was reviewing some of my past images, I saw this one and immediate thought of an Impressionistic painting. Topaz Impression and Cezanne came to my aid. Magic happens.
Below is the original image straight out of the camera.
“Original Image”
Ground Cover Abstract
Heatherwood, Winter
Sometimes it feels good to get away from reality and let the imagination flow. Looking through some macro images I took yesterday I wondered what would happen if I would put a couple of ground cover photos together. I picked a close-up of a clump of blue fescue and a red-colored ice plant. One had a fine texture, one a smooth course texture. One was blue, one was red. I made a multi-image composite in Photoshop and was pleased with the results. I still felt playful and decided to add an impressionistic overlay patterned after Georgia O’Keefe … voila, the above image appeared. Am I creative or crazy? Maybe a little of both?
Tri-color Sedum Abstract
Heatherwood, Fall
Strolling in our garden on a crisp frosty morning, I looked down and saw an interesting pattern on the ground. It reminded me of French tapestry wall coverings I had seen on some of the old historic homes on the East Coast. I took a little artistic liberty and enhanced the image with Topaz Impression to create this final image. Squint your eyes and think of some of those wall paper covered walls on those wonderful early 19th century historic homes.
For reference, below is the base image prior to adding the Topaz enhancement.
