Garden

DonnaMaguireSummerGarden

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Well. I was browsing through the new

and established work by artists belonging

to the Jo Beale Gallery of Peggy's Cove

and saw this work by artist Donna Maguire

titled Summer Garden. This image reminded

me of some shots I took of landscaping

at a local garden centre.

I've posted both images in

this posting. My photograph

was taken in July, 2009.

Jo Beale can be contacted at

902-823-1960 or Jo Beale gallery at

http://www.jobealegallery.net/.

So enjoy the summer flowers.

Have a great make-sure-to-be-
inspired-at-least-once-a-day

kind of day.

Helen.

Impressionism Continued

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This might be my best

impressionistic shot so far.

Have a great-love-the-weekend

kind of day.

Helen.

Impressionism revisited

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2 more impressionistic shots.

This strategy of moving the camera

while shooting poses untold

promise of creativity.

Hope that you enjoy these

images.

Have a try-the-unexpected-

kind of day.

Helen.

Impressionistic maple

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Well. Encountering a windy day 2 days ago and

working to capture the leaves blowing in the wind

emboldened me. I thought why not try a Freeman

Patterson technique and move the camera

while taking shots.

This is harder than one might think. The instinct

is to hold the camera still at the point of capture.

So one is moving the camera and instinctively

pausing and holding still at the shot one wants.

At any rate I got a shot I am pleased with.

I spotted this tree on a drive-by and

wanted to capture the 3 branches

overhanging the water. By moving the camera

side to side I landed an impressionistic shot.

See what you think.

Have a notice-nature-even-

for-a-moment kind of day.

Helen.

Crescendo of Leaves

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I owe these images to renowned Canadian

photographer Freeman Patterson.

He wrote "The Garden" (2008).

Toronto:Key Porter books Ltd.

The book chronicles his garden in New Brunswick

across the seasons with text and photography.

He advocates capturing impressionistic

images of flowers and trees by capturing

them in wind "dancing" or by jumping

up and down while taking the shots.

These shots are taken in wind.

So instead of fighting the wind or

not doing photography at all on a windy

day one works with it.

Hope that you enjoy these images.

Have a working-with-the-obstacles-

kind of day.

Helen.

Robin

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This is the second item in my series

of folk art paintings of birds.

A colleague told a story of a pair of robins.

Residing in a lovely suburb she and

her husband have a covered back deck.

A pair of robins nested every year

in the rafters of the deck. Then the robins'

offspring also returned to this backyard

when grown. Doing some roofing repairs

to the deck the roofers were asked not to disturb

a nest with eggs. The roofers were careful.

The robins didn't leave and hatched the eggs

successfully. Obviously the birds my colleague

reported felt safe in this backyard.

I hope that you enjoy this image.

Have a watch-the-wildlife-in-your-

backyard kind of day.

Helen.

Floral Decay

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I developed an interest in photographing

decaying and fading flowers from exposure to

2 photography books:

Christopher Beane (2008). Flower.

New York: Artisan

Clive Nichols (2007). The Art of

Flower and Garden Photography.

London: Argentum.

These 2 men are the best floral

photographers in the world.

There is something challenging

about the beauty of dying flowers.

These 2 images strike me as hauntingly

beautiful.

Hope that you enjoy them.

Have a never-stop-seeing-the-

beauty kind of day.

Helen.

Fall apples 2009

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Saw this tree full of apples and thought it looked

lovely. Sort of bountiful. Returned to photograph it.

Hope that you enjoy these images.

Have max-out-fall-before-winter-hits

kind of day.

Helen.

Raven

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Starting a series of folk art paintings

of birds.

Have a start already with 20 sketches.

This is the first piece in the series

and coincidentally my favourite.

There is a wonderful story by James Houston

of a crow. This crow flew beside a trucker

in his vehicle and shared lunch with him.

When this gentleman died the crow flew beside

his replacement for 3 days and then stopped.

Clearly delineating that the crow had

been attached to the first trucker and not

the second and could differentiate them.

Hope that you enjoy this image.

Have a getting-back-into-the-swing-of-

things kind of day.

Helen.

Summer sky 2009

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Continuing my focus on clouds and sky and sunrises.

This is a bright, cheerful image as summer

segues into fall.

Hope that you enjoy this image.

Have an enjoy-Sunday-while-it-lasts

kind of day.

Helen.

Gladioli 2009

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Really love gladioli flowers.

Captured 3 shots here.

Really enjoy the close-up.

Hope that you enjoy these images.

Have a looking-forward-to-the-weekend

kind of day.

Helen.

Tumult revisited

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One more tumult image.

Have a review-it-carefully-kind-of-day.

Helen.

Tumult series

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These images are of clouds and of

reflections of clouds in water.

I love the grey stormy effect.

I hope that you enjoy these images.

Have a find-the-calm-in-the-

centre-of-the-storm kind of day.

Helen.

Muse collage

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Just playing around with a collage of my muse.

Have a be-creative-if-you-possibly-can

kind of day.

Helen.

Autumn Leaves 2009

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I went back to shoot a favourite tree from

last year. To some surprise I noticed

that it had already progressed into rich

fall colouration. I'm glad I didn't miss

this display of colour.

Hope that you enjoy these 2 images.

Have a pay-attention-to-little-

kindnesses type of day.

Helen.

Clouds in Denim Sky

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These photos are serendipitous.

I was taking shots of fall leaves and

included some clouds in one shot.

Then I noticed the strikingly beautiful

patterns in the clouds and started

shooting.

It was a summer moment with

warm air and sunshine and looking

upwards at clear blue sky with

white fluffy clouds.

Hope that you enjoy these images.

Have an enjoy-the-last-of-summer

kind of day.

Helen.

September Muse 2009

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I am mulling over the process of creativity.





Betsy Dillard Stroud, in her book "The Artist's
Muse:Unlock the Door to your Creativity"
writes:



"Let me assure you. Being creative is a
natural gift accessible to all.
To be creative, you simply open a door,
the door of the sub-conscious mind, and
allow thoughts and images to emerge unedited."



The key is how to open that door.

Her book attenpts to assist.



My experience has been that I
have a muse that sends me images.


I see pictures in my mind that
just emerge with no conscious thought.





My image yesterday was the decor of a room
with pink strie walls and 4 modern armchairs
upholstered in a white fabric with red coral branches.



My favourite image to emerge as I was falling
asleep is of a bear. I painted this bear last year
or the year before.



So try to be receptive to your muse.



Above is a folk art drawing of a muse
and if you believe in muses you know
that they are celestial beings.



Have a open-the-door-to-your
-creativity kind of day.

Helen.

Radiant Sunrise 2009

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Well. I have decided that I am

fascinated by sunrises.

The colours to be found in sunrises

are extraordinary.

Ideal for me as I love playing with colour

whether it is decorating or folk art I

am working on.

Hope that you enjoy today's images.

Have a made-it-through-the first-week-of-

September-kind of day.

Helen.

Silent sunrise 2009

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This sunrise is a little subtle. Hence the title

silent sunrise. It is not gaudy or flashy.

Enjoyed painting it.

Hope that you enjoy this work.

Have a work-can-bring-joy-kind

of day.

Helen.

Vignette I & II

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Saw this vignette on a drive-by and was

thrilled with it.

Just a charming image.

Hope that you enjoy these 2 shots.

Have a compete-with-yourself

-to-be-the-best-you-can-be kind of day.

Helen.

Further Fall Berries

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Painted a second fall berries folk art image.

Like the colours particularly the taupe,

orange and jade green combination.

It is pleasant to play with colour.

Hope you enjoy this image.

Have a new-beginnings-

for-fall type of day.

Helen.

Fall Berries

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I mentionned that I was fighting

my photos yesterday. Wasn't producing anything

worthy to be posted to the blog. One use for these

shots however is as a photo reference for my folk art.

Today's material. Fall berries is such a photo.

Not a stand-alone photo it made a nice photo

reference for a folk art painting.

Hope that you enjoy these images.

Have a persistence-pays-off-kind of day.

Helen.