Autumn Moon Maple
Heatherwood Japanese Garden
Walking through a narrow garden path, I brush up against overhanging leaves. I can’t help but stop and admire. I enjoy the leaves at my fingertips as well as the ferns and other leaves below. I reach down, hold a leaf in my hand, and feel the details, shape, color, and textures. After several moments, I continue my walk and look for more details to admire.
Garden Path Vignette
Heatherwood Japanese Garden
Walking along our secret garden path I look down beneath a crabapple tree and discover this little vignette. Beneath the tree I see a combination of color, tones, shapes and textures with a little bit of garden art. The vignette is comprised of Japanese hollies, Japanese forest grass, white bleeding hearts, and an art piece from a local artist, Michelle Wyles.
Intimate vignettes like above usually cause me to stop and explore details of a garden. I sometimes drive my strolling partners nuts as they wander through the grand views of a garden. They have to wait for me to catch up. Many times, the detailed landscape views are what I recall from a garden or nature walk.
Jelena Witch Hazel
Heatherwood Late Winter
The witch hazels are the harbinger of spring in our garden. They are usually the first blooms of the year. Soon they will be followed by our Cornelian Cherry dogwood and the star magnolias. We have already seen tiny tips of the crocus and daffodils popping up from the ground. Spring is just two weeks away!
Winter Ground Covers
Heatherwood Japanese Garden
A touch of frost highlight these winter ground covers. These three ground covers add a little winter flare to the garden. The foreground Siberian Cypress changes from its summer grey-green to its winter bronze color. The Mahonia in the center adds red, oranges, and purples to its winter cloak. In the background, the Blue Rug juniper adds a cool blue to the scene. Winter is not dull in Heatherwood.
Plethora of Color, Textures, and Shapes
Heatherwood Winter Garden
This small vignette in the lower garden has a little bit of everything. Russian sage and spent rudbeckia display blue and grey with a hint of brown as well as provide fine and course textures. Red twig, yellow twig, and Midwinter Fire dogwoods show a blast of color and texture. The grasses in the background are a break in the color and provide a contrast in form and texture with their flowing seed heads. The vertical conifer trees frame the image with varying textures and yellow, green, and blue colors. The dark green Mugo Pine anchors the center of the image and provides a sharp contrast in color against the dogwoods.
Later this winter the Russian sage, dogwoods, rudbeckia and grasses will all be cut back. In spring, new growth will emerge providing a fresh pallet of color, texture, and form.
Pahoehoe Lava Sculpture
Kilauea Lava Flow, Hawaii
Pahoehoe lava flows and cools slowly. It forms ropey type patterns as it cools. Walking over the Kilauea lava flows provides an infinite source of vignettes for creating images. My mind wanders as it gazes over the terrain. I discover pattern after pattern. Each one is unique and my imagination goes wild. I get lost and lose track of time. Each time I have walked the flows with travel partners, they have patiently(?) waited for me with stern faces by the car ready to drive to the next stop.
Japanese Maple Leaf
Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle
As I walk along a trail, it so easy for me to focus my vision looking forward. I frequently just stop and look all around, up, down, side to side, and backwards. When I am with others, it drives them crazy … there he goes again! All I can say is that I see and enjoy what surrounds me much more.
I created this image when I glanced up and saw backlit maple tree leaves fluttering in a gentle breeze. I stopped along the path and watched the branches and leaves waving back and forth, surrounded by rays of light flickering through the canopy trees above. Before I raised my camera, I had to move aside on the path to let several people whisk by not realizing what they were missing.
Now the work began, I looked and looked to find that perfect leaf. After several minutes, I again realized that nature is not perfect. I closed my eyes and re-opened them, looking for something that caught my eye. I found this one fluttering leaf, moved around to get a good background, then just waited for the breeze to position it just right.
“Pink Dogwood”
Heatherwood Spring
As one fades, another springs forward. Our pink dogwoods are now in full bloom! Spring glory is everywhere we turn in Heatherwood. The pink dogwoods were one of the few trees that were already here when I moved back to Selah in 2016. Each year they are getting a bit larger and more profuse in blooms. They welcome us home as we drive up to the house.
“Emerging Serviceberry Bud”
Heatherwood Spring
As our early cherries start to bloom, the serviceberries start putting forth these funny-looking things. They soon will turn into sets of blossoms and leaves. In a few days, the emerging bud will unfurl as shown in the following image.
“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.