Illustration Friday: Swept

~His beating wings were just a blur on this chilly, windswept day~

For Illustration Friday: swept

acrylic paint, colored pencil and rubber stamp on bristol board.

Illustration Friday: Deja Vu

I know I've seen this tree before. I remember the same twists and turns resembling a half-eaten pretzel. Its leaves were a lace canopy letting the tiniest bits of light come through the pinhole openings.

That's it!! The light.

I've been here at twilight before but never this early in the morning while the sleepy pink sky was still hugging the horizon like a blanket.

No. This isn't deja vu.

I know this tree, and once again I'm grateful for the pleasure of her company.

for Illustration Friday: deja vu

tree studies done with acrylic paint on canvas

Six Word Saturday # 18

Summer nights,

Pink skies,

Contented flutterbys.

For more Six Words, click here!! 

Skywatch Friday: Day one of 2010

As I peered out my kitchen window this morning this is what I saw.

Light grey skies peering through snow-covered trees.

The only indication this isn't a black and white photo is the blown glass piece on my windowsill.

Let's go see other Skywatch Friday pics to see what the fist day of the year looked like around the world!

The happiest of New Years to all of my dear friends in blogland!

Six Word Saturday

Setting sun

through Nature's

lace curtains.

a moment from my day. For more Six Words, click here <

Skywatch Friday: Mirrored trees

Taken at Walker's farm, Barrington on a clear Autumn day.

I love it when the sky reflects in puddles!

Please go to Skywatch Friday to see other shots around the globe :)

Illustration Friday: Flying Home

There's something about migration that fascinates me. When I lived in Pacific Grove, California, the Monarch butterflies would arrive each October. I always wondered why they chose such a chilly, foggy place to live while trying to elude a harsh winter. They'd look like one long orange ribbon flying in the breeze when the sun was out, and when the cool fog settled in they'd huddle in long clustered rows for warmth and comfort from the wind.

In a way I've migrated back to my home ground, too. And instead of the balmy escape of a cold winter, I found myself flying back to roost in familiar surroundings ready to be embraced by autumn colors and the icy kiss of a long, cold season.

(Digital collage this week, no time for painting. Thanks for stopping by!)

IF : Wrinkles in nature

I'm one of those people who finds beauty in wrinkles. Not the ones caused from too much sun-bathing or from smoking. I love laugh lines. And an old pair of wrinkled hands holding the hand of a newborn just melts me.
We have these wonderful, weathered trees here that take a beating year after year by the gusting saltwater air as they brace themselves on the cliffs that overlook the ocean. The salt and the sun dry them out, the wind twists and bends them. They stand like sentinals, the elders among the seedlings looking so wise in their wrinkled bodies. I think we still hold the song of our youth in our wrinkled bodies. And I feel the dragon still sings from within the withered tree.

acrylic on canvas with collaged text for Illustration Friday's prompt: wrinkles. Click to enlarge.

IF : Homage To A Tree

"Each time these blossoms open I recall the friend who gave me the saplings, and the times we used to stop and drink beneath his trees;

But those springs of twenty years ago are like a dream,

And the wine cups of those days are tea-bowls now."

~Kisei Reigen~

If you have sound, please listen to "Dream Tree" as it plays, and then "Magnolia" if you have time to linger.

Acrylic on canvas 36" x 36" for Illustration Friday prompt : Homage

(The cropping cut off the bottom shadowing a bit)