Week 21 - 2016 in Photographs

Day 141

 Three photographs in color and four in black and white. I used to do no black and white processing. I am a color person. My paintings are full of color and my photography followed suit. But I had a whole period of art in which I did pen and ink in black and white and added just one accent color.


Black and white is also a good way of reducing a painting to the bare essentials so I can produce a drawing from it to use as a basis for sketch for a painting. And I used to do photography just as a way to research paintings.

Day 142

 The photograph below is in color for this week but I have it in the folder for next week as a black and white.

Day 144

 It is a difficult leap to take a photograph with deep blues and desaturate it black and white but the whites of the aspen barks are stark elements in the photograph below.

Day 145

And the old building in Ocate was almost over-powdered by the colors. I tried it in black and white just to see what I would get and also to make it an easier subject to draw.

Day 143

Day 146

 And the old building with the three wash tubs was so fractured with discordant colors I wanted to see it in black and white. Again to draw it and then to paint it with my own choice of colors.

Day 147

Another look at the building in Day 143. Generally I do not do back and white of a photograph with a quiet sky but there isn't much sky.

Week 20 - 2016 in Photographs

Day 135

A week of landscapes and flowers. Mixed weather and mixed moods. I am so ready for summer or at least spring.

Day 136

 Taking care of greenhouses as helped with ennui about the never, never land between winter and summer. Here in the mountain west spring is a sometimes thing. And it is not unheard of to have winter one day and summer the next. And the absence of spring may be why so many of us have greenhouses or sun porches or studios which are crowded with plants both ornamental and vegetable.

Day 137

 An orchid or hibiscus in bloom keeps your attention away from the wintery mix (NOAA's term) just outside the windows.

Day 138

But when you do look outside there are those treasured skies filled with clouds and lit by the rising sun.

Day 134

Day 139

 I am still looking for the dawn photograph to end all dawn photographs. Or the photograph of the Sangre de Cristos to totally define them as a mountain range. The one below I translated into a painting in my style. What I took from the photograph was the basic elements, and then added my feeling of color. My yearning for spring.

Day 140

Week 19 - 2016 in Photographs

Day 127

 It was a wintery mix week as NOAA has come to term it. Definitely spring time in the Rockies. And mating turkey season. I managed to get my first ever photo of a strutting gobler.

Day 128

 And in my opinion deer can be a little boring without something to add to the photo like huge snow flakes.

Day 129

Day 130

Day 131

 And snow capped mountains with storm clouds are also a great photographic theme. The next two photos are "assignments" from a photographic group I belong to.

Day 132

Day 133

Week 18 - 2016 in Photographs

Day 120

Rather a mixed bag of tricks this week at the end of April and beginning of May. And it was rather a mixed bag as far as weather too. And things going on. I would like to say I earn enough to be able to do photography full time but no. Not yet. So I do some odd jobs and pet sitting and property care. And this week I had to throw in garden prep. If that last does not get done I don't get to eat organic green things all summer long.

Day 121

 The camera always goes with me. Except for yesterday. I left it home. I do that every once in a while and always find at least one reason I should have taken it. It was new goslings. But if you have a camera you see the world a bit differently and not bringing it is like hitting reset on an electronic devise. It clears the clutter.

Day 122

 One of the things I wished I had the camera for yesterday was this Hibiscus with a flower in full bloom. Hoping it or another bud is still there today. 

Day 123

This large ceramic piece is in the same greenhouse. And looks like it will be a fountain in the near future. I love taking care of greenhouses. It gives me a break from spring as represented in the next three photographs. But I do like what snow and frost can do to the landscape and objects. Especially spring snow because it falls gently and is wet enough to stick to things so even a fence has charm.

Day 124

But aspens are the best pallet for spring snow. And they never seem to get old. I must have hundreds of snowy bare branches photographs. 

Day 125

 And even lawn chairs left out can look fantastic. Their simple lines make them wonderful to play around with in any photo editing program. I liked this because of the Easter egg colors in contrast with the winter white.

Day 126