This is one of the photos I took on Sunday. I love the color of the sky. It reminds me of old Kodachrome film, when the cyan layer gets out of control. Hopefully, the freeze that’s forecast for tonight won’t do too much damage.
Tag: Spring
One Week Later
March 25
April 1
It’s amazing how much things can change in just a week. The crabapple trees have been threatening to bloom for weeks now. I first noticed their bud swellings on Valentine’s day. The grass has turned an impossible shade of bright green. The forsythia and redbuds are blooming. Lilacs won’t be far behind.
It stormed early this morning, so everything was super wet when I got up. There is a giant patch of violets at the back end of the field, but most of them were still asleep. As I was bending down to look at the flowers, I heard a large bee buzzing overhead.
The ones that disappeared are back
Spring Leaf Buds Opening on Bramble
New Leaves
Last Fall’s Milkweed Caught in Multiflora
Morning Dew on Multiflora
Sun Dappled Vines Twined Around a Branch
Fall Leaf Nestled in the Branches of a Fir Tree
Ivy
I went out this morning and took pictures while the dew was still on the leaves. I love this time of year, when everything is just starting to emerge. There is a pale, lacy green tinge around the trees. The migratory birds are starting to return–someone has been singing in the tree outside my bedroom window. The peepers are peeping. The grass has turned from winter brown to dazzling green. The sky is an impossible shade of blue. It’s warm enough to open windows and let in the fresh air. I imagine I’ll get tired of it quickly, though, because with warm weather soon turns to hot weather, and open windows let in the sound of noisy neighbors. And y’all know how much I love hot weather and noisy neighbors!
There is a season
I mentioned that we seem to’ve moved straight from winter to summer? I took Harriet out back at about 11:00 last night, and Mr. Upstairs had his AC running. Now, I’ll grant that it’s warmer in upper apartments than lower ones, but it couldn’t have been that warm up there. I mean, I had to go get a blanket because I got a little chilly while watching teevee.
Air conditioning!?
In March!?
Speaking of Spring
We’ve had a few days where the temperature was warm enough to open the windows. Yesterday was not one of them! It was too warm. Saturday and Sunday were beautiful, though. I opened all the windows, and Harriet installed herself in the bedroom window, where she could stand on the bed and rest her chin on the sill. Pandora chose the studio window, where she could keep an eye on the parking lot and all the comings and goings.
The space she’s wedged herself into really isn’t big enough for all of her to fit, but she doesn’t seem to mind.
Spring?
I’m wondering if we skipped it entirely and went straight to summer.
That’s ridiculous! And to think that exactly a month ago, we were encased in ice.
A light exists in spring
April 22, 2006
Some of the trees are starting to get a faint tinge of pale, pale green, and the redbuds are close to bursting into bloom. The brambles behind my house have little bud swellings on them. All of this means that my allergies are awful. I love spring, but it does not love me.
Trees in Spring
Apple Tree in Spring
Redbud Tree
We’ve had a week of gorgeous weather here in southern Indiana. It’s been so warm and sunny that it’s been hard to believe that it’s November–and the end of November, no less. It won’t be long before it the cold and snow start, so I thought I’d share a couple of springtime photos.
These are the redbud and 5-in-1 apple trees at my mom’s house, taken last April. It’s weird to see how big they’ve gotten. There was only one tree on the property when we moved there in 1985. It’s long since died, but we planted a bunch of others: peach, two apple, cherry, pear, redbud, oak, and maple. The peach was planted too close to the garage and had to be cut down, and the cherry was lost in an ice storm. The rest are huge, now, though. Proper trees instead of spindly saplings.
Photo note: These photos are a good illustration of just how super-saturated colors become when the sky is overcast. It might seem like bright sunlight would be better for outdoor photography, but it tends to wash out colors. The shadows and reflections created by strong sunlight can also be problematic. If I had my way, I’d much rather photograph artwork outdoors on a cloudy day.
Also, studio update: I’ve finally got most of the furniture arranged. I still have to set up half of the workbench (there are two 4′ long sections) and unpack my supplies, but it’s getting there. There are also a couple of utility shelving units that I’m trying to decide where to put. They’ll probably end up in the closet, for tool storage, which means the closet will have to be emptied and sorted/unpacked. I think I should be able to finish that up by the end of the day. I could actually have a working studio by tomorrow!
I can’t believe how long it’s taken me to unpack. Lordy! The problem is that I work 10 hour days, and I don’t have much time to work on stuff in the evenings. And, since moving, most of my weekends have been spent helping a friend pack and move (large house, crammed to the rafters with stuff), so I really haven’t had much in the way of free time. She’s nearly finished packing, though, and should be entirely moved by the end of the month. I’ll finally have some time to myself to do real, live arting.
Say What…?
Doesn’t anyone proofread copy for teevee commercials? I mean, if you’re going to spend eleventy bajallion dollars on advertising, the end product ought not make you look like an ignorant pantsload, right? So why is Ford bragging that one of its cars will allow you to make “less stops at the pump”? I swear, I want to pierce my eardrums every time that commercial airs.
And now, a red bird for a spring day. I took this at my mom’s house. While I was outside, photographing paintings, two cardinals were dancing and displaying at each other, so I tried to get some shots of them. They didn’t turn out very well, but I was able to play around with this one in Photoshop and salvage it to some extent. I upped the contrast, decreased the saturation, increased the red and yellow channels, and added some noise.
The house in the background is due to be torn down. There was a fire in it over 20 years ago, and the owners did a crapy-assed job of renovating it. They were able to rent it out a few times over the years, but it’s sat empty more often than not. Now, if it’s not torn down, inertia will likely take care of the problem.
It’s a good, good (Fri)day
I just saw two swallowtail butterflies flitting about in my yard. Spring has definitely arrived. Summer, too, perhaps. It’s supposed to be around 85F today. O ick. And it’s supposed to storm this afternoon, so I thought I’d update and upload while I can.
First, some spring photos.
The first three were taken this morning. It stormed at about 4am, but the morning was absolutely gorgeous. The horse in the first photo had just calmed down. He’d been running around and rolling in the grass, full of joie de spring, which was super cute, but not so photogenic in a distance shot.
Next, Teh Cute and Teh Silly:
What can I say? Boxers are unbelievably weird. They do a silly kidney bean dance, wherein they whip their bodies in half, bending back and forth, accompanied by hilariously funny nubbin wagging. It’s ludicrously cute, but not easy to photograph. I tried to get video of it, but no dice. In the second photo she’s just plain lost it. Boxers are notoriously sassy. They love to talk back. This is Harriet woo-wooing at me. My timing was not good, because I was laughing, so I missed the part where she scrunches up her floppy lips and purses them in a perfect O. You can see a little bit of the lip action, but it’s not as impressive as it could be.
And now, the art. Three of them contain Polaroids I’ve altered using sandpaper and/or bleach.
Diptych: Faun
Diptych: Alba
5 1/2 x 5 1/2
collage (altered Polaroid photo, brass beads, unbleached waxed paper, pieces of burnt paper, and fragment from 1854 patent book) and acrylic paint on 90lb Stonehenge paper
Reissue and Extension
5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches
collage (stone beads, braided hemp twine, copper wire, and fragment from 1854 patent book) and drawing (Sarasa gel ink and dandelion pulp) on 90lb Stonehenge paper
The paper was stained beforehand with instant coffee. I made the flower by pounding a dandelion into the paper, then drawing around it using a Sarasa retractable gel pen and water brush. The ink in these pens is dye based. It doesn’t skip and it bleeds when wet.
The Bone of a Thought
5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches
collage (altered Polaroid photo, bone fragment, brass brads, unbleached waxed paper, and fragment from 1854 patent book) and acrylic paint on 90lb Stonehenge paper
red paper boat 