Poppies Revisited

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Came across these images of poppies from a month ago and quite

liked them.

I enjoy seeing gardens looking sort of tangled and a bit

chaotic. It is the opposite of a studied posed studio shot of

blooms.

Hope that you enjoy these images.

Have a break-out -the -freedom -in -small -doses

kind of day.

Helen.

Showhouse-Brad Ford

This week I noticed a talented designer's room
in a showhouse. Showhouses feature a designer
assigned to install each room with the proceeds from
the entry fee going to charity.

The showhouse was in the Hamptons . The room
I noted was a covered porch. The designer's name
is Brad Ford. He had 2 interesting concepts for the room.
Referencing screened porches from his childhood he
installed 2 sofas hanging from wires to represent
swings. Then to represent wind chimes he had an artist
create 800-1,000 porcelain windchimes in the room
hanging from twine.

Lastly he kept to a neutral colour scheme,
installed a simple jute rug, wooden side tables
and a photograph of an African warrior.

It was a very striking installation.

To see the work go to
habituallychic.blogspot.com
and see the posting for Tuesday, July 28th.

Hope you look this one up.

Have a day-full-of-kindness sort of day.

Helen.

End of July Daylilies Part 3

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Final 2 shots of daylilies.

Have a long-weekend-is-pending kind of day.

Helen.

End of July Daylilies Part Two

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A few more close-ups.

Hope that you enjoy these images.

Have a when-the-rain-stops-what

-will-you-do-kind-of-day.

Helen.

End of July Daylilies

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Went out the door yesterday intending to get

some shots of daylilies.

One concept was to take vista shots to see/capture

the flowers as tangled.

Did achieve my goal. I hope that you

enjoy these shots. Also landed some

good close-ups.

Have an achieve-a-goal-no-matter-how-small

kind of day.

Helen

White Easter Lilies

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Had an enjoyable time capturing these white easter lilies.

Playing with moving away from capturing a single bloom

in a conservative shot.

Want asymmetry and only a partial view of the bloom

with some portions of the flower purposefully out of the picture.

Or multiple blooms.

Have an it's-the-weekend-kind of day.

Helen.

Artistic blogs and web-sites post-script

I seem to have forgotten a few favourite blogs and
web-sites yesterday. So they are listed below.

For interior designer, Vicente Wolf his web-site is
worth looking at to further view some of his work.
The address is vicentewolf.com. I mentionned his blog yesterday-
vicentewolfblog.com.

My mentions Vicente and Kelly Wearstler were both selected
by shelter magazine Traditional Home for inclusion
of their list of 20 design icons. See this month's issue.

Kelly has a prior book documenting her style named
"Modern Glamour:The Art of Unexpected Style".
As I mentionned yesterday she has a new book coming
out this fall named "Hue" that will track her use of
colour in her projects. Noone's work quite
looks like Kelly's. It is dubbed Hollywood Regency.
She has also done some fabulous fabric design for Lee Joffa
and I especially love one of her fabrics featuring mountains in
a plum and lavender colourway.

I have been a big fan, as well, of British
fabric and furniture designer, artist
Carolyn Quartermaine. I have read and re-read
her book "Carolyn Quartermaine Revealed".
Carolyn has a distinct style reminiscent
of a romantic modern take on a French chateau.
She has a stunning use of colour and her
interiors look like stage sets. In fact she
also does art direction for clients at times.
See her work at her web-site:
www.carolynquartermaine.com.

Rachel Ashwell of Shabby Chic fame
is bringing out a new book this fall
called '"Shabby Chic Interiors". I have her 1996
book "Shabby Chic". Think white slipcovered
furniture, chandeliers, faded rose fabrics,
mirrors and white painted furniture.
It is sort of a casual cottage look amped
up by romantic taste.

For further interior design reviews and commentary
I neglected to mention yesterday a great blog by interior
designer Katie Denham. Her site is
katie-d-i-d.blogspot.com.

For more photography locally
I also visit the anderson gallery
of Lunenburg. Owned and run
by photographer Mariette Roodenburg
it features a rotating roster of photographers
doing contemporary work including the work of Mariette.
I just recently viewed an exhibit by well-known
New Brunswick photographer Andre
Gallant at the gallery. See the portfolios
of this years talented photographers
at the web-site: www.andersonmontague.com.
For photography, garden, and architecture
books to die for see the on-site bookstore
on the lower level of the gallery.

For recent reading I have been avidly
reading interior design books. My most recent
purchase was a book by Irish interior designer
Clodagh called "Your Home:Your Sanctuary".
Her style is very organic and sensual. Think
muddy colours, stone and wood. Homes and spas.

As well , I have been reading graphic design books.
My favourite so far is a volume named "An Illustrated Life"
by Danny Gregory. This book documents the
the contents of personal sketchbooks of illustrators,
artists, and graphic designers and is quite an interesting
read. Full of pictures it profiles many talented contributors.

For books on floral photography try "Flower' by
New York photographer Christopher Beane. In my opinion
he may be the most talented floral photographer
in the world. See intense close-ups and arrangements
featuring wilting blooms, flowering tress (think magnolia),
peonies, poppies, and ranunculus, and orchids against
colourful back-drops. In an interesting twist
Chrisopher worked at the flower market in New York
for several years and used to bring home subjects
daily to photograph in his small at-home studio.

For more on the artwork of painter Flora Doehler
and metalsmith Larry Knox see their art blog
at greenwillowstudio.wordpress.com.
Their work can aslo be purchased at art gallery
Flight of Fancy in Bear River. The village of Bear River
is husband Larry and Floras new adopted home
and they are renovating a home there.

Well that about sums it up.
Have fun pursuing some of these leads.

Wishing you a creative-kind-of-day.

Helen.

Artistic blogs and web-sites

Well it is a rainy day this morning and I have no images I
wish to share.

I thought that I would share some of my favourite blogs
and web-sites.

For interior design there is top Cuban-born American designer
Vicente Wolf. He shares a mix of professional advice and
snippets from his life in New York and the Hamptons. He might
give his feedback on a movie or advise interior designers on
how to bill a job. His blog is vicentewolfblog.com.

Vicente is also a photographer and consummate world traveller.
He has published two books so far: "Learning to See" and
"Crossing Boundaries". A third book is due this fall.
He enjoys subtle colours- pale blues, greys, beiges and
ginger. He mixes custom made seating with ethnic artifacts
and controlled spaces. One signature is to lean a large
mirror against the wall. Under his press section look
up Love thy Neighbour's loft. It showcases his home
apartment and that of a friend and neighbour and is
truly the work of a great talent.

For interior design web-sites with a lot of portfolio shared
there is glamourous Kelly Wearstler in Hollywood
at www.kwid.com. Check out her work in the press
,magazines and newspapers, by scrolling through the articles
in her press section. I like her glamourous style but find it works
more for hotels, restaurants and stores than residences in
my opinion. She has a new book called "HUE" coming out this fall
that highlights her use of colour in various projects which I can
hardly wait to buy and browse through. Her work is very original.

www.darrylcarter.com also hands out a big press section
in Darryl's portfolio. His style is very spartan. Very stripped back.
He keeps to white, oatmeal and black colour schemes and
showcases a curator's eye for furniture, fabrics and antiques.
To see more of his pared back sophisticated style read his book
"The New Traditional".


Orlando Diaz-Azcuy just has one image on his web-site to date
but it is worth looking up. His internet address is www.odada.net.
He is the subject of a new book recently by Diane Dorrans Saeks and
I am saving it to read on my birthday. His style is very glamourous
and as far as I can tell looks like a high-style museum.

For photography I visit Canadian landscape photographer
Andrew Collett at his well-constructed web-site at
www.andrewcollett.com. He shares his portfolio,
has a feature photo section, provides technical instruction
and advertises workshops. His work does showcase
Algonquin park and other wilderness sites.

As well, I follow Nova Scotian award-winning photographer
Margot Metcalfe at www.secordgallery.com.
Her work is known for it's contemplative nature.
She has been supportive to me and believed in me and steered
me to the provincial arts association known as VANS.
I can say nothing but good about her.

For art I visit www.secordgallery.com and
www.jobealegallery.net. Both Nova Scotian.
Phil Secord and his staff, Holly and Jennifer,
are very expert and he does mostly all
of my framing. He has a full-fledged stable
of artists at the gallery. Jo Beale lives and works in
Peggy's cove. See her series of nudes,
Peggy's cove scenes or images of apple
trees from the Annapolis Valey.

For inuit art I track www.houston-north-gallery.ns.ca.
This gallery is part of the scope of the famous Houston's.
James and Alma Houston virtually founded a
commercial structure in Canada for Inuit art
and this gallery is run by their son, John, a film-maker
in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. I enjoy seeing
the annual Cape Dorset collection each fall
and have collected a few prints from these collections.

For more fun I follow artist Flora Doehler
as she and her husband get settled in
the arts community of Bear River at
floramary.wordpress.com. They detail
their experience getting established in Bear
River after a move from Toronto
a couple of years ago and track both their
artwork and their experience
renovating a gothic farmhouse.
I believe they move in iminently.
She is a painter and her husband Larry is a
metalsmith. Flora insisted I start a blog
when she heard from me for which I am
very grateful.

In Toronto I track portrait artist
Barmara Muir, a daily blogger.
Her site is barbaramuir.blogspot.com.
She and Flora are friends and fellow bloggers.
Barbara blogs daily.

Finally I track interior design commentary
at mrsblandings.blogspot.com and
habituallychic.blogspot.com.

For my soul I track wildlife and land
conservation agencies- The Nova Scotia
Nature Trust (nsnt.ca) and the
World Wildlife Fund (www.worldwildlife.org).

I hope that you enjoy some of these sites
depending on your level of interest.

Have a enjoy-cocooning -when -you -get -the
chance -kind of day. (this sign-off is a signature
of Barbara Muir).

Sky Study I & II

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Moody skies at a beach.

Have a reflective -kind of day.

Helen.

Bird Series-Eagle

Have started a series on birds. Doing preliminary sketches

as shown here of an eagle.

Found 2 fantastic illustrated field guides on birds at

a secondhand bookstore and cafe called
Biscuit House in Mahone Bay.

I plan to do folk art paintings of roughly 25 birds.

The birds I grew up with in Southern Ontario

in my childhood.

I am growing more interested in wildlife

conservation. Am following the accomplishments

of the World Wildlife fund (http://www.worldwildlife.org/).

This organization works internationally to protect
endangered species of animals.

As well, locally I am following the Nova Scotia

Nature Trust (nsnt.ca) . This latter organization

purchases and acquires through donation private

land to protect habitat for wildlife- flora and fauna.

Have an eco-friendly kind of day.

Helen.

Clematis vine

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Spotted this flowering clematis vine while

shooting some other shots. Just came across it.

Think these 2009 shots are better than shots

of the same vine I took last year in 2008.

I have gotten some feedback that my eye

for photography is improving and advancing.

Hope that you enjoy these images.

Have a happy-happenstance kind of day.

Helen.

Vines

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Overlooked these photos originally.

Just pulled them out and printed them up yesterday.

My favourite has to be vines012009 with the fence and gate

clearly draped with the flowering vine.

The image has good symmetry, as well.

Hope that you enjoy these images.

Have a discover-the-unexpected kind of day.

Helen.

Lunenburg Florals

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Took shots on side streets in Lunenburg.

These 3 photos are probably the best of what I shot.

They are simple charming images.

Hope that you enjoy these images.

Have a restful-kind of day today.

Helen.