Nature's Beauty

Setting out with my camera each day is a trip of discovery.

Like a paparazzi I stalk shots in the world around me.

When I see a shot there is a thrill. A state of revving up.

There seems to be endless beauty. Endless interest.



Here floral painter Bobbie Burgers (at http://www.bau-xi.com/)

remarks on her own fascination with painting flowers:



"The excitement of the change of seasons, and the elusiveness
of nature are what inherently draws me to flowers and landscapes.
Trees over-ripe with fruit and gardens bursting with flowers
so quickly fall into autumn with all it's rich colours and golden hues,
then silent winter white. By the time spring comes around again
we are all searching for the first sign of life, colour, warmth and the
cycle begins again. Whether it be blossom branches cut to bring
the beauty of spring inside, summer's gluttony of flowers and fruit,
or fall's vineyards in a golden haze, I have a deep yearning to
capture and hold these images in paintings, as a reminder of what
is gone and what we can look forward to seeing again.



Ever since I can remember, I have been enchanted by the
beauty that nature offers."



My Greek sister-in-law wrote to me recently that Pantheism
comes from the Greek word "pantheos" meaning god/divinity
is everywhere. She thought I would be interested, as she wrote
"what greater expression of the divine in the natural world
than flowers-in fragrance, form and colour". It is a miracle
how we are shown these natural delights, how things blossom,
bloom, grow, procreate. How all around us little miracles
are occuring cultivating our souls.



Painting flowers is like having an endless selection of models.
They come in every shape and colour, they twist and turn and
evolve daily. I can go from a more traditional still life, all prim and
proper, to a sort of portrait of a group of friends, a head shot and
finally the flower explodes, covering the entire canvas as if
ready to swallow and intoxicate the viewer. Conversely a flower
can be seen not as an individual flower alone, but as one of masses:
a lily in my backyard surrounded by dozens like it, a tulip,
one of thousands in a field, a blossom on a tree bursting with them.
Perhaps it is the never-ending possibilities with flowers and landscapes
that keeps me riveted. Depending on my point of view:distant/cropped,
inside/outside,my choices seem to multiply.



I am still so excited by all the options and who knows, around the next
corner could be the perfect vista, or I may receive the quintessential
hand-picked bouqet."


It is this mood of expectation Bobbie so aptly describes. Getting that next
best shot drives my photography. I am indeed driven.

Have-a-full-of-possibilities-day.

Helen.