Once Upon a Lily Pad

In an instant I fell in love with Claude Monet's ethereal, gentle paintings of floating lily pads with their lyrically rendered blossoms.
His brilliant paintings fed my imagination with his beautiful stroke work, saturated color and a strong "sense of place." His paintings created a desire to become a diminutive Thumbelina and live on a private Lily Pad.
There I could bake tiny vanilla cakes, frosted pink, and served on its satin smooth surface.
Every Thumbelina needs a crown; what could be finer than the Blossom with its gentle pointed petals and palette of pastel colors ? 

The Funny Bunnies and I, nearing sunset's magical hour, found ourselves walking around a lake with a floating necklace of Lily Pads. Surely there was a Thumbelina preparing for sleep or perhaps taking her tea.
We certainly looked for her.

 Thumbelina may be the Princess, but....
the Kings of the Pond are the many carmel, sepia colored ducks, with fine black etched feathers.
This was their Kingdom, too.

Little girls and boys (and grown ups, too) love fairy tales, and this walk around the enchanted pond gifted us with such an  adventure.

********************************************************

Thank you to Kim Klassen for her textures: Robin's Egg, Celery, Mistletoe and Zen

( used on the first three photographs.)

Thank you to Kent Weakley for providing excellent instruction in all things digital.

 Be sure to visit Rebecca's Postcards from Paradise.  The best thing you can do for yourself today.  

What I Have Always Known

May this small offering of prose and photography give you a few moments of quiet and reflection.

Texture: Sunrise provided by Kim Klassen

Heart Thought: as you, like I, have aged, have you found certain profound truths concerning the Joys in your life? What Joys do you carry next to your heart?

(Feel free to print this card.)

I have   come to know that the joys in life have nothing to do with age.

They do not change.  Sunrise, sunset, family, buds in blooms, hummingbirds darting about,

music, words, art, waves rolling in through all Eternity.

The Non-Conformist: Texture Tuesday

This morning I ventured out for a walk around my neighborhood. 

The sky was a very gritty gray, homes looked weather beaten like the homes seen on beach fronts, only perky pansies 

spread a dash of purple and yellow. 

It was rather dismal.

While walking, I couldn't help but reminisce about how much

I miss the summer open-air markets.

Then I remembered a really quirky melon I had seen at the open market near our home in the fall. 

"Melon" didn't seem at all intimidated that he was 'different.' Rather he just sat there waiting for someone to pick him up, test for freshness and take him home.

Very attractive in a rustic sort of way, he seemed perfect to do a little Texture Magic on.

And now "Melon" will be sent across the internet to the far reaches of the globe.

See it pays to stand out in a crowd!

Today's textures compliments of Kim Klassen.

Wonderful Magic (2), Market, and Bent Edges

Heart Thought: Thank you Open Air Markets, wherever you are...you are the best!

Smiles: Sharon

Texture Tuesdays: ORANGE

When Kim Klassen announced Texture Tuesday's theme would be the color

 Orange

I felt prompted to choose something unexpected.

I was clueless, what was waiting to be noticed.

I culled through  hundreds upon hundreds of photographs for anything with a hint of orange.

And then I knew I had made a good decision.

Vincent van Gogh

Van Gogh was living in Arles when the specter of his illness became more and more apparent. In January he suffered a delusional attack and suffered a self inflicted wound after painfully parting ways with Gauguin.

Burdened by abandonment, embarrassment, weak from his episodes and wounds he lived in fear of another attack.

The next episode came in mid February.

In May, he voluntarily entered the mental asylum of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole, fifteen miles from Arles in Saint-Remy-de-Provence.

This proved to be a very positive, empathetic choice. As he improved he was allowed to leave his room and paint about the grounds. 

Some of his greatest paintings are from this short span of time.

A few years ago, my family and I went to the St. Remy hospital. Today there are placards showing where he stood to paint the fields, buildings and flowers.

All is as it once was one hundred years ago.

His tiny room and treatment rooms are open for visitors.

Standing on the exact  ORANGE-RED tiles that he stood on day after day, I gazed at the view he saw every morning upon rising.

In the adjacent room stood coffin-like, peeling white-tin tubs that patients were forced to stay in for water therapy.

 

Feet stand upon the tiles next to Vincent's simple cot.

Awe and humility.

Turning to the left is the barred window,

his view

 of the fields

where he saw such beauty;

the wavering wheat fields, the gnarled olive trees

and the stone walls that contained his world.

One could smell the oil paint and linseed oil, feel the rough linen he painted on.

"The sun was pouring bright yellow rays on the bushes and the ground, a perfect shower of gold."

Vincent van Gogh

Texture Tuesdays

I have finally made the commitment to jump in with two bare feet and Big Mama (camera) to Kim's Texture Tuesday postings.

Now this is really putting myself out there. And I hope my humble beginnings will be seen as such...simply trying...

We can't "land" anywhere if we don't try.

I love to see the photographs that others have manipulated with textures and text. I have taken several of Kim's extraordinary classes (highly recommend) but I just never could find the time to commit to getting the process down so that it was FUN and not INTIMIDATING.

I am still working on the second word!

Join the fun, Funny Bunny grandchildren, a campfire and making s'mores. Used two of my every day photos.

I used several textures: Scratched Magic, Bee Keeper