This lends so much warmth to the room. I love how nothing 'matches'... yet - it's such a harmonious existence. Lots of little clay drawers... perfect for storing those perfect little nothings that we all have (and don't know where to store). ((Pier One a few years back))

don't ask me why. Just let me explain. It's part of that love affair I have with my Sony... it was Halloween timeframe and we'd just staked out the heads... I just couldn't resist. Who would've thought that they'd turn out to be so cool??

A little out of season, but still timeless and elegant. Ice tinged edges of a glorious holly bush. I went a little further with this image, and changed it to B&W, then used a history brush to bring back some of the color... less is always more.

mmm. Lovely dogwood, pale and blushing pinks on a wonderfully striated textural background. I dropped out the color of the background so that the blossom would shine. It does, doesn't it?

This image makes me think I can paint... I often take shots and as I'd mentioned a few posts ago, then edit with Photoshop's dry brush effect... I was musing how to bring color back in this - and was so tempted to run a page of watercolor paper through the printer, then do a very subtle tint. But, it was just a thought.

Last Easter we were at the Governor's Mansion in Williamsburg where we saw glorious flowering dogwood and apple trees... and awoke to see a fresh snowfall lingering on the tulip bed outside our room's window.

I was taken with this piece of ornament - (I'll call it a finial, as it tops off something) located in the rear garden of the mansion. I love the way the flowers appear as if they are carved, also am particularly taken with tone on tone. Where it's simply the relief that makes the designs pop. I try to take this inspirational element into my art, both in form & imagined execution.

The gardens also had numerous hedges and bushes that were trimmed to such exactness, that I would imagine it could be an execution in compulsion - making sure that no single element grew more than any other! Giant boxwoods carved meticulously into the shape of cylinders, hedges with sharp angles and down-turning curves, much like the wall beyond the finial. Very pretty...

Yesterday I had said that inspiration/art is out there for everyone - but you had to learn to see it.

This was a small outbuilding also at the Williamsburg settlement - With so many repeated elements... doesn't it make your heart skip a beat? I imagine that the fence in the foreground has little points on it also, but the angle of the shot didn't capture it.

Repetition strengthens a design - repetition emphasizes a statement - repetition gives cohesion... repetition unites a scene.