Category Archives: Painterly Effects

A Painting from the Woodland

Snow-covered Maple Tree Leaves
Heatherwood Woodland

Our October Glory maples are one of the last trees to display their fall colors and to drop their leaves. The first two light snowfalls this year sprinkled the leaves with patches of white, leaving a beautiful woodland winter scene. Last year, an early heavy snowfall blanketed the branches with a layer of heavy snow. Several large branches bent over and broke, leaving large wholes in the tree’s shapes. This year, we have not seen any damage, yet!

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The Painter

The Painter
Yakima Arboretum, WA

On one of my autumn walks in the Arboretum, I saw this artist painting a colorful image in the maple grove. I paused and thought how relaxing and enjoyable it would be to just sit back, observe the world around me and slowly sketch an image of what I was feeling. So many times I see something that really grabs me and just pause and gaze. After a few minutes, I may pull up my camera and try to create an image that will represent what I see and am feeling. Then I quickly move on. It seldom occurs to me to stop and become one with the surroundings, then slowly create an image, or set of images, that will better represent what I have become immersed in.

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Visualizing for Fun

“Liatris”
Heatherwood Meadow

As I walk through our Heatherwood garden, I constantly look for little vignettes that catch my eye. When I see something of interest, I pause to look at it from different perspectives. I tilt my head, squat up and down, move around, squint my eyes, and imagine how I can translate what I see into something a little unique. Many times I just move on, other times I imagine what I can do in post processing. For this image, I knew that it was a painting from the start. With a little help from Topaz Impression out popped my interpretation.

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A Special Day

“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.

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Gifts For the Taking

“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.

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Time For A Little Flare

“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.

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Wabi-Sabi

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.

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Abstract Thinking

“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”

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Creative or Crazy?

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?

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