Sunday Stills: The Letter B

Thanks to all of you who have expressed concern over my absence. First, I should say something about where I've been.

It's very difficult to find inspiration for photography when the natural world around me is dying. Most of the photos I've taken lately are documentary and pretty grim. If you've kept up with the news you'll know our area has been surrounded by wildfires, scorched by high temperatures, and dry as a bone. We've received something like 2 inches of rain in the last 12 months. The river is just a pile of rocks. Animals are dying and the vultures don't even bother them.

Barren and Broken

This was taken near our house. One little Parralena blooming by an unfortunate armadillo (not Patches, but he's not been seen in months).

Our well has been dry for five months and most of my time is taken up finding water and hauling it. The garden, our fruit trees, the lawn, and just about everything else we've planted in the last decade is dead. Fortunately, we've been able to keep most of our animals alive, although we lost some older chickens (Stefania, Kitty Hawk, and Sumo) to heat exhaustion. Since we live in a remote place and can no longer grow our own food we're having to make more frequent trips into the city. It's all very exhausting.

Trying to keep positive about the situation, I'm painting pictures of water. Here's a 24" x 48" canvas on which I've just started working in oils.

Brushwork

I also took a three week trip and followed the rain around wherever I could find it. That made me happy.

Beams of light in a rain storm over New Orleans

It's also been a time to focus on the inside of the house. We usually spend so much time outside we sort of neglect the interior. For instance, we've lived without flooring for five years now and sort of just noticed. Everyone thinks the black mastic that once held down the 50's linoleum IS our choice of flooring...

So, I'm getting ready to repaint all the walls and put in flooring. To make room for this work I'm putting things into storage. Some of the first things to go have been my books and shelving. I don't know why this has been so nostalgic, but it's like packing little pieces of myself away. I took this today as the last light illuminated them.

 

Books

Know that I'm thinking of everyone even if time does not presently allow me to visit or post on your blogs. For more images of the Letter B, visit Sunday Stills.

Sunday Stills: Doors and Doorknobs

Short on time, I photographed these doorknobs and handle all from one of our old farm sheds this afternoon. I tried to look for the abstract in line and composition.

For more images of doors and doorknobs, visit Sunday Stills.

Sunday Stills: Rust

First, I should say something about the obvious lack of recent posts.

We've only received a half inch of rain in the past ten months and are under the highest level of drought. Our well went dry at the beginning of Spring and we are currently surrounded by smoke and wildfires burning up hundreds of thousands of acres in west Texas, some as close as an hour away. Hauling water for our farm and planning for the possible evacuation of ourselves and 67 animals has become more than a full time job.

Rust--we have plenty of it. On a farm it's always working, even while we sleep. I've learned to appreciate it's artistic efforts and use it to justify my tetanus shot. I've tried to pick some of the more interesting cases for this photography challenge. I can imagine myself making a series of abstract quilts based on these images. Which one do you like best?

 

For more images of rust, visit Sunday Stills.

Sunday Stills: Old Churches and Graveyards

This morning it was misty, which set an ethereal background for photographing our local cemetery, which dates back to the pioneers that settled this area of the Southwest Texas hill country in the mid-1800's.

Perhaps you can tell something about a town by its graveyard. Our ghost town, population 49, has more dead than living. As a rural ranching and farming community there isn't a lot of money for fancy edifices. Some graves are incomplete but not forgotten.

 

 

This is my good friend Geno's grave. He and I shared a pet coyote. He lived a healthy lifestyle and could ride a bicycle 50 miles a day, but liver cancer took him unexpectedly and too soon. We buried him on what would have been our (Farmer Rick and I) wedding day. Farmer Rick and I sang Ave Maria at the grave site. One day I will put a marker up with a bicycle or coyote. Or both.

The wind and animals scatter the fake flowers. Many wash down the creek and end up at our place. They seem to symbolize the impermanence of a human life.

Some people decorate more than others. Anything goes. It shows the diversity of this small populace.

 

I dedicate this post to my mother whom I buried 34 years ago today, and to Laurie, the former owner of my house here for 31 years. She was buried in this cemetery a couple weeks ago in an unmarked grave decorated only by a cross made of white and purple flowers.

For more images of old churches and graveyards, visit Sunday Stills.

Sunday Stills: Spring Preview

Preview?! Nope--our first flower of Spring 2011 opened up today! No need for digging in the archives.

Last year the Wind Flowers (Anemone heterophylla) opened eight days earlier. Perhaps they have been waiting out the extreme cold temperatures we've been experiencing. Usually around eight inches tall, the lack of winter rains has cetainly stunted these, which barely have stems!

The Bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) which usually begin blooming around the end of March are dwarfed as well. They should be at least three times this size by now. It doesn't seem to matter how much I water them, only a good rain will make them grow!

This week in an effort to create more positive drainage (not that we get much rain), the county road workers scraped about 2-3 inches of topsoil, wildflower sprouts, and the wildflower seed bank from in front of our house and all the surrounding areas.

Of course all of this makes me worry about my honeybees, seeing their list of future provisions reduced. One of my goals this year is to propagate 10,000 flowers for them! I've already started 700 Salvias, Mints, Coneflowers, Mulleins, and Lavenders from seed.

Aren't these Fearnleaf Lavenders cute? I hope your Spring is not long in coming, and I'm happy to say Spring officially began here in Southwest Texas today! For more previews of Spring, visit Sunday Stills.

Sunday Stills: Emotions

This Sunday's challenge is an image that's supposed to evoke an emotion in the viewer. It's very gusty here today and I liked the way our colorful flag was backlit by the sun and blowing in the wind, seemingly reaching up towards the trees and sky while dancing in and out of the shadows. It struck me as a metaphor.

It brings out a lot of different emotions in me. It reminds me of my father's life of service to this country, and a beautiful land that is being damaged by big ag, fossil fuel consumption, and rampant development. It reminds me of the many freedoms I am privileged to enjoy and yet my frustration with a political system of two sides always fighting each other. It reminds me of the foods, songs, and culture uniquely American and also our need to teach tolerance of others different than us and seeing ourselves as citizens of Earth.

For more emotional images, visit Sunday Stills.

Sunday Stills: Circles

(Click to biggify!)

Here are the most interesting circles I could come up with for the challenge this week. This is a large, hand painted wooden collector's button from Russia on top of the over-sprayed metal lid to our hay bin. I do wish I knew the story it tells.

The imagery depicts a crying fish--perhaps because he's been turned into an island?--a woman carrying water over her shoulders to her home, and a beautiful wooden church in the architectural style characteristic from where my ancestors came.

Church in Turza, Poland 

(courtesy the wikicommons)

I love all the circles in this architecture. Maybe this is why I designed our chicken coop with curving walls?

 

Also, yesterday I randomly discovered an online filter that will turn photos into bead art. Using it I altered a photo of a Phoenician Mullein growing in my greenhouse.

For more images of circles, visit Sunday Stills.

Sunday Stills: The Color Green

Ed challenged us with green because many participating photographers are currently snowed in! But here in southwest Texas the Live Oaks and Junipers keep us surrounded in green during the Winter. So I decided to challenge myself in other ways of photographing green.

Those of you that follow my blog know it's a rare day you'll see a photo of me on it. So I thought I would try some self-portraits: a green-eyed lady in green glasses and green coat in front of a green mirrored sculpture on the side of our house. I've used some digital manipulation to cut the glare on the mirror and create a dream-like effect.

Perhaps I should have cleaned the mirrors first! On this last one I decided to collage in an old cotton doily. Do you like it?

For more images of green, visit Sunday Stills!

Sunday Stills: Macro

Ed suggested we shoot inside, but the sun finally came out and the landscape begged to be explored after several days of rain and cold. And with great luck, I came across a family of Earth Stars. I just love these little things.

Earth Stars are a relative of the Puffball, and belong to a group of fungi known as Gasteromycetes which means 'stomach fungi'. They have a little 'stomach' filled with spores.

Unlike any other fungus, an Earth Star can move!

When it rains the outer layer splits into many rays, looking like a star. The rays of the star act like legs to raise the stomach above and release the spores.

For more up close photos visit Sunday Stills!

Sunday Stills: Best Shot of 2010

Happy New Year friends! One of the best shots of the year was recently taken by my husband of me holding our first grandchild, Lily. I love how angelic she looks!

Here are some of the best shots I took in 2010. I'll leave it up to you to choose the best one!

Thanks Ed for hosting this fun challenge, I'll try to participate more this year. For more Best Shots of 2010 visit Sunday Stills. Wishing everyone a fabulous 2011!