a gold butterfly on cellophane sent via post by my cousin
for my paper work projects 
Posts Tagged ‘butterflies’
unexpected gifts
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged art, beauty, butterflies, creativity, family, gifts, gold, Inspiration, Photography on February 21, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
Happy Holidays and Safe Travels
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged butterflies, colors, flight, holidays, Inspiration, nature, nature photography, poinsettia, travel on December 25, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Thanks to everyone who has given me feedback on the blog this year. Each comment has been appreciated. More to share before year’s end, but until then, happy holidays and safe travels.
bringing the outside inside
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged butterflies, children, colors, creativity, imagination, Inspiration, nature, nature photography on December 3, 2012 | 2 Comments »
A few days ago when my five-year old friend came to visit, she asked, “Can we go see the butterflies?” Up the spiral staircase we went to the sunlit nook where the butterflies reside. Though we have seen these fancy flyers since she was tiny (as she describes her younger self), my little friend asked in a serious voice, “Cynthia, why do you have butterflies hanging from your ceiling?”
I responded with the answer she well knows which is, “A friend gave them to me years ago. I like how the sun shines on and through their wings.”
She spun the mobile with her finger. “I like that too. It’s like having the inside outside, isn’t it?” And what else could I say except, “Yep.”
moths fly toward the light …
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged beauty, butterflies, colors, digital photography, insects, Inspiration, light, monotype, musings, nature on November 4, 2012 | 2 Comments »
caught in this morning’s light …
Posted in Branches, Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged autumn, butterflies, colors, digital photography, flowers, Inspiration, leaves, light, nature, trees, water on October 31, 2012 | 3 Comments »
… butterflies in a mobile that a friend gave to me several years ago,
dried flowers disintegrating at a wonderfully slow pace,
oak leaves shining like jewels in a coronet,
and water dissipating on a window pane.
it was the flutter of a wing …
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged Boston Public Garden, butterflies, colors, insects, Inspiration, nature, Photography on August 23, 2012 | 8 Comments »
… that caught my eyes and made me pause as I raced across the Public Garden. Already late for a meeting, I had had no intentions of pausing or pulling out my camera. But how could I not as I looked more closely at what lay before me?
butterfly distractions
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged art, butterflies, colors, insects, Inspiration, mixed media, nature, Photography, watercolor on August 10, 2012 | 3 Comments »
While doing some very late spring cleaning, I came across two butterflies I created a few years ago. At the time I think I was at a multi-pronged fork in the road. As my mind mulled over next steps, I needed to keep my hands busy. This is what I produced.
Expanding the Paper Worlds
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged art, butterflies, colors, Inspiration, moon, nature, paper crafts on February 1, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Red Waters, Red Moons and White Butterflies
Posted in Inspiration, Music, Nature Notes, tagged art, beauty, butterflies, design, Inspiration, leaves, life, moon, paper craft, Photography, reflections, relationships, travel on November 10, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The Dublin Moon Series … that’s what I’ve decided to call this week’s creations of papery moons and butterflies and tiny poetry-laced leaves. The lunar inspiration is clear. Dublin is in reference to that certain scientist fellow I write about on occasion. In our time together he has been an unexpected source of creative inspiration. He’s certainly expanded my thinking about light and angles and even about getting grubby to get the best shot. Earlier this week he traveled to Dublin for business. As I helped him pack, we came across a small notebook not much bigger than a matchbook. It lay at the bottom of a bag he’d taken on a previous trip fishing on the high seas.
I remembered giving him that notebook because on that trip we wouldn’t have much phone contact. And because I love a good story, I told him to take notes so that he could tell me later about all of his adventures with appropriate detail. Well, upon his return he managed to tell me a very good story without ever pulling that notebook from his bag. So nearly a year later we flipped through the pages, chuckling as he deciphered his notes. Then he came to a phrase that made him pause. Imagining that he had recorded seeing a mermaid, I laughed and shouted, “What is it? What is it? What did you write?”
Well, what he had written was this: “Let me try to see the world through her eyes.” Now, over the years, I had gathered that as he traveled he sometimes took pictures of things for me like rose clouds in the sky and trees reflected in blue waters. Once he had texted from a different boating adventure, “As I look out over the ocean, I see a lone butterfly and it makes me think of you.”
I did not create all of these paper works for this fellow, but I do recognize that this form provided a creative outlet for me to engage with him. I was compelled to imagine what it was like for him to be out on that boat and seeing the butterfly over the ocean, and when he’s traveling in Japan, how he sees the red sun. Anyway …
I think my paper period is done. He shall be home soon, and I’ve got a backlog of writing, photography and exhibit-related tasks to focus on. Though, I must admit this morning I did find myself humming Blue Moon. And I do have a lot of blue paper left.
We’ll see …
Four White Leaves, Frost and Illuminated Glass
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged art, beauty, butterflies, design, full moon, paper cutting, Photography, photos, pictures, Robert Frost on November 9, 2011 | 1 Comment »
It was not until I spoke with my brother last night that I realized the moon was full. I begin to wonder if all my work with paper this week is lunar-inspired, especially this image of a full moon releasing translucent leaves upon the autumn landscape. Originally I had conceived of placing a small bench upon this hill, with a person staring up at a rainbow around the moon, an attempt to visualize this old post. But as I worked, I found myself appreciating the simplicity of just leaves raining down on the ground.
A full moon created from an old calendar of Tiffany stained glass seemed apropos given the enjoyment I’ve had this year in photographing stained glass windows at Trinity Church in Copley Square and elsewhere.
Perhaps the strangest work created this week (so far) is a watercolor moon rising above a landscape of Frost in leaves. What do I mean? Well …
… the leaves clustered at the bottom of this painting, like the ones you can kick about beneath a tree that has loosed all of its foliage … those leaves were created from the beautiful words of Robert Frost in poems I copied from a book. I simply wanted to see “frost on leaves.” We’ll see what the rest of the week has to hold as the moon wanes.
