Fairies and Flowers
A fairy sleeps, dreaming of summers past and the summer yet to come. While at the window a fairy waits to join again the garden. Join our merry band of colour and scent. Hear the birds singing and the bees buzzing in anticipation of another sweet harvest. The warm sun spreads out the blanket of freedom on which we dance with the breeze, while leaf and tree keep time.
Lily Literacy
Consider the Lily. Read between the lines of stem and petal. Gather meaning from the stamen. Stain not your tongue with harsh words.
Interpret the colour and texture that blazes with news. Notice the scent ? It advertises secret desires. Be beguiled by subtle meaning and allusion. Beware of the illusion of love. Nectar can come with a sting. All wares come with a price. The bees know when to take flight. The birds hum the tune; you supply the words.
Flower Transfigurations
A process of transfiguration. We start with a pink edged rose etched on glass. We turn to pink flowers on aged paper. A red lily mandala blooms on old paper. The pink flowers become muted, then turn to sepia. At last we arrive at an etched flower head, where lead becomes a finer metal and paper becomes flower. The Alchemist’s spell is complete.
Lilac Dreams & Poppies
We are still awaiting the arrival of flowers.
The unseasonably warm weather spoilt us.
As the temperatures returned to normal,
We became impatient.
We dream of flowers,
Over-heightened colour & textures.
Feverish with expectations,
We twist and turn our heads.
We detect ghostly scents of Spring’s arrival.
We eagerly wait for when
We can curse the over abundance of Pollen,
that falls like gently shed
Snow.
Note: George had mentioned in a previous post that I seemed to change styles. “Am I becoming predictable?”, I asked myself. I replied, ” I knew I was going to ask that question”. I took that as a sign that it is time to do something a bit differently. This post started out as something and turned about when I wasn’t looking. The title changed, the visuals were modified further & additional images were added. There was not going to be a poem. I realize I now have to adjust the selected tags. The process of creating and communicating ideas can be organic or chaotic – chaotically organic/organically chaotic ( which of these is healthier and better for the environment? ) .
Good Friday 2012 ~ Black Hollyhocks
Dedicated to those we still hang on the crosses of political, social, and economic expediency.
Those who have been left forsaken in the Mansion of Poverty, the unemployed, the working poor, and their children.
Those who are marginalized, forced into the alleyways to huddle by the shadowy Backdoor of Blind Indifference & Hypocrisy, because they are the wrong race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or age.
Those who are marked in body or mind with differences and are forced to drink from the Cup of Scornful Pity.
And those who Hammer in the Nails of injustice and bigotry,…….,
Remember that each hammer blow tightens shut the door to whichever version of Heaven you would claim.
Rose ~ The Winter’s Tale
Lawn as white as driven snow;
Cyprus black as e’er was crow;
Gloves as sweet as damask roses.
The Winter’s Tale (Link)(4.4.248-50)
Plastic Bottle Flower Prints 2
These three Plastic Bottle Flower Prints were produced to go with a tutorial/explanation of the process of creating these pieces. A couple of posts back clover58 had asked for more information on how I created the effects. Well, after all these years of teaching, when someone asks how/why, I have trouble not providing examples, instructions or resources. You will find there is now a tutorial page devoted to Plastic Bottle Flower Prints. It goes through the basic steps in the process. If anyone wants to know about the more complex-artsy transformations, I’ll add a further tutorial.
Plastic Bottle Flower Prints
Using macro shots of a plastic pop bottle I created some layers to blend with a medium macro shot of flowers in a vase. The first experiment was published in yesterday’s post. The two versions today are very different from each other in style, colour and texture. The first emphasizes the plastic surface overlaying the flowers. The mat was designed to emulate a melted plastic . The second image resulted in a faded photo-print that resembles old lumen prints. The mat was intended to suggest the coloured paper of older photographic processes.
NOTE: For more information on Lumen Prints see my earlier post, Flower-gram 1. It will provide an earlier digital experiment and links to more information.
Tulips Kiss in The Night
Tulips kiss in the night
They whisper of
Distant lands,
Dreaming of empires
Long forgotten.
They recall fortunes lost,
Petals falling
Like coins
Along the canals
Of Amsterdam.
Note: See Tulip mania
Anonymous 17th-century watercolour of the Semper Augustus, famous for being the most expensive tulip sold during tulip mania.
A Satire of Tulip Mania by Brueghel the Younger (ca. 1640) depicts speculators as brainless monkeys in contemporary upper-class dress.
When Roses Dream
You see them in a vase,
Or perhaps pressed
Between pages
Of a treasured book -
Maybe dry an’ forlorn,
Midst the shade of ice & snow .
What are those Roses dreaming ?
Oh, however shall we know ?
What dreams cling to them ?
What memories, like a fading scent,
Drift in their reveries ?
Do they dream of duets?
Dances in the breeze ?
Do they hunger for moist
Tears or lips ?
Or for bird songs
In the trees ?
Does the warmth of the sun
Enfold them
Next to some bright brick wall ?
Or does Summer’s soft caress
Sooth phantom petals
That have been undressed
By a misty bed?
When Roses dream,
Oh what may those dreams be ?
When you sleep tonight,
Dream their dreams for me.
What If Wednesday: Blue Dreams of Xanadu
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
Kubla Khan (click for the complete fragment) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)
Note: Yes, both images were both photographs . If people are curious about the process of creating either of them, I will post an explanation/tutorial. The poem fragment is especially loved by those interested in fantasy literature. There Coleridge and Xanadu have appeared in more pieces of fantasy as character, setting, or artifact than any other literary figure & their creation.
Antique Angel-4
This is the Angel Metalika. She is etched into the metal with the dreams of hopeful lovers. The metal is washed with the tears of joy and sorrow. See how the thin line between tears of joy and sorrow marks the boundary of the image ? The metal is polished with the petals of flowers sacrificed to St. Valentine.
The fragrant blooms fill her alcove and soft whispers kneel in anticipation. Scattered light dances over your head as she looks down. Memories stir as musical chimes announce it is time to depart. One last look at a rose impressed with her seal and it is time to go.
Note: A prose poem attempting to emulate those composed by Lord Dunsany
Lily Impressions
These two experiments in technique and texture layers were done using photographs taken this summer of lilies in our garden. Part of the method involves creating a copy of the photo as a second layer and modifying it by blurring and spinning the image. Once I am satisfied with the blended results, the new image is combined with texture layer(s) to create the finished piece. Enjoy the Day !
Summer memories in Bloom
As summer moves towards the end of August,
We can look back as memories begin to bloom.
Who can say what awaits for good or ill;
The horizon beckons with sunlight & shadows.
Heads-up in The Garden
Keep your head up in the Garden.
Watch with eyes wide open.
Revealed in shadows and sunlight,
The unexpected & the new.
Consider the Heronography-
Read the leaves and count the lines.
Contemplate the broken Catsuary -
Perfection is a matter of Perception.
Mounted flower pots,
Hanging flowers reach out,
Faces to the sun.
Three Steps in the Garden
Step into the Garden -
Watch as Nature and Time
Dance by.
First is a Floral Rumba -
Then the Thistle Quickstep.
Finally drifting into the Summer air
The Feathery Seed-flight Waltz.
Flower-gram: Lilly of a different colour
The Lilly of a Different Colour originated with a photograph taken a few years ago. It was a medium length shot taken with a macro setting. I was not completely satisfied with it. After modifying the image’s contrast and saturation using the virtualphotographer plug-in, I added a texture layer. The texture layer was created using a recent photograph . After modifying the texture image, the layer settings and opacity were adjusted to create the final image .
If you look closely you can still see the outline of the ant near the centre of the flower. Enjoy the day !
reasons of the heart unknown
The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of.
Blaise Pascal French mathematician, physicist (1623 – 1662)
Flowers: Coming & Going
Some flowers are just arriving while others are coming to an end. Remind me of the end of the school year, the graduates prepare to go past grads may drop by for a visit, and a few students are thinking ahead to next fall – they can not wait to tell you that they are in your class come September.
A note to my subscribers and visitors, once again I am working on photo-compositions for the next school calendar. They only came through with the grant money to publish the special colour calendar this month. As my time is starting to open up from other school duties and I now have access to this year’s photos I will not have as much time for posting, especially photos. I have some creative projects on the go, but the calendar photos need to be finished first. I don’t want them swallowing up as much of the summer as they did last year. Enjoy the day !
Flower-grams & Cyanotype Cinema
Another post that opens a window that looks into a world of might have been history. Two more flower-grams, images created by digital means, that appear to belong to an alternative Victorian or Edwardian reality. Plus a strange little animation that would not be out-of-place in a cyanotype cinema, if such a steampunk peep-show theatre existed.
Irises in Another Light
Beside the warm wall
My wife’s purple Irises rise-up.
The Summer’s sun paints shadows
On yellow & brown bricks.
In the flower bed
The Morning is embraced -
Petals provide
Scented kisses.
Poppies and Exams
Yesterday it was irises, today poppies.
Summer begins with exam week.
Pens push across the page,
The final rush to the finishing line
In the heat petals fall.
Between the shade and the sunlight,
Orange, red & black.
Only here for a short time.
The petals flutter & fall.
Discarded markers of another turn of the season.
Iris Sunlight
My wife’s yellow Irises rise with the sun.
Summer sings to Spring
As she embraces the Morning.
The front fence was designed and painted by my with, Elizabeth Kanski. She is the Visual Art teacher at E.L.S.S and a local artist. Enjoy the day !
Damaged Memories: Flower-grams
This post was going to be about one thing and then it got turned around. Synchronicity walked in through the door and left a memento on the kitchen table, an arrangement of flowers. I better start at the beginning, you see it all started with flowers, new windows,old books, and digital scotch tape. I have been working at creating some texture effects. Along the way I started looking at creating a scotch tape effect. I was also looking up techniques for creating grunge/aged textures. My main goal was to try to create some digital scotch tape to place on the corners of some of the images. My initial effort/experiment can be seen in the previous post, Pink Dreams.
Now many of my recent photographs have been the flowers in our garden, so I had quite a few of those to work with. I did find that only a few worked well, and that was only when I combined them with the technique and textures I use to create the flower-gram images.
That brings the next piece of the puzzle, new windows to replace the old; I am not referring to computer software, I mean replacing real windows. In order to prepare for the window replacement meant that we had to fix up our dining room area and get things out-of-the-way. Anyone who knows our dining room area, knows that this task is labour of Hercules. This is a room full of everything, including a small bookcase and even more books and lots of my wife’s art supplies, and more, and more.
While moving things and clearing things that haven’t been touched in quite a while, you stir up a bit of dust and a lot of memories. Knick-knacks, expensive gift shop items or midway souvenirs, they are charged with memories and the lingering ghosts of the past. An ornamental piece that was “old” when I was a child. Always there in my parents’ living room, until the day it came to stay with us. An old inexpensive book, Birds of North America, colours yellowed, stained and covered with scotch tape. Filled with strips of cardboard pieces. Cut-up strips of boxes – cereal, tea, cookies – dated lists in my mother’s hand writing – MARCH 11/90 2 Robins, 3 Grackles, MARCH 17/90 1 Cowbird. Gently take them out read the words, more importantly, intently look at her hand writing. Only eleven years. Just one decade, plus a year. Then another – just another ten. A lifetime. Another century.
My I eyes – watering. This is difficult, replacing windows. I carefully return the strips in exactly the same place in the book where I found them. Re-arranging a room takes effort and strength…..
The next day I have an extra class supervision. When I arrived home, the dining room windows had been replaced. Synchronicity had blown in. When my wife arrived home, the neighbour said the delivery downstairs is on the kitchen table - flower arrangement had arrived . I don’t remember seeing it. We had put so many things in the kitchen and on the table to get out of the dining room, it had just blended in – damaged perception~memory. Only one name was written down. No message. The man had said my wife would know it was from.
An older man.
Not too tall.
Grey-white hair with a pony-tail.
A strong German accent.
Only a single name.
Only one word.
My sister-in-law’s ex-husband ?
My wife calls her sister, “Could it be him?” .
So many years, since the last meeting.
Yes it was him. He came to visit and see his ex-mother-in-law.
She is in the senior’s manor.
Alzheimer – damaged memories,
Fallen petals fading.
I am sure he brought her flowers.
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