
Denzil has invited us to share bees ‘of any species, size, sex, colour and activity’. Despite the broadness of the brief, I’m not sure he’ll have been expecting these. Continue reading “An Homage To Bees”

Celebrating gardens, photography and a creative life

Denzil has invited us to share bees ‘of any species, size, sex, colour and activity’. Despite the broadness of the brief, I’m not sure he’ll have been expecting these. Continue reading “An Homage To Bees”

Brian has kindly been hosting this week’s Lens-Artists’ challenge from his home in the Australian bush and I’ve enjoyed seeing the submissions. His topic is inspired by, in his words, the ‘fragmentation around the world, a disconnect. But we have always been made of pieces’.
I’m (largely) sharing fragments put back together in different forms, starting with a detail from a decorative drainage sump in last year’s ingenious Wilde Weelde exhibit at Floriade ’22. Continue reading “The Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Fragments”

Walking on your own is an acquired skill for many of us. I can’t claim to enjoy walking for exercise, though I do it. I’m more motivated by the things I might see. A kestrel is way up on my hoped-for list. Right now, in our damp climate, it’s fun to look for miniature forests of mushrooms that spring up seemingly out of nothing and have vanished without trace next time you pass. Continue reading “Pebbles Along The Path”

In my post of highlights from this year’s Floriade Expo, I shared a teaser of a bird detail from Lian de Gier’s wonder-full mosaic on display in the Green House. If you didn’t see the peacock for lack of a tail, at least you had an excuse, not being in front of the whole 5m x 2.5m mosaic. Continue reading “De Droomtuin Mosaic by Lian de Gier (The Dream Garden)”

When wallpaper was the stuff people pasted and hung on walls, rather than the screen saver of a mobile phone or computer, I worked for a wallpaper company. We used the term ‘distressed textures’ to classify designs that did the role of a plain paper, but were more broken up and patchy. Some mimicked flaking plaster, rusted metal or grungy wood, others were abstract.
Designers took inspiration from all walks of life, and mood boards of patterned objects decorated the studio: inspiration for themed collections with titles such as Cairo and Great Plains.
I was reminded of those mood boards last month at the Ag Museum in Jackson, MS, where visual treats were everywhere, hidden in plain sight. Inspiration for Agricola, I imagined: a contemporary homage to farm implements. Continue reading “Finding Distressed Textures at an Agriculture Museum”