eggplants blossoming in dark purple and pumpkins blooming in bright gold
while nearby vines bear fruits
in many shades of green
Posts Tagged ‘beauty’
summer’s palette
Posted in Inspiration, Kitchen Inspirations, Nature Notes, tagged beauty, colors, food, food photography, gardening, Inspiration, nature, Photography, seasons, summer on July 28, 2014| 6 Comments »
the abbey room revisited
Posted in Inspiration, tagged Abbey Room, art, beauty, Boston Public Library, colors, Edwin Austin Abbey, holy grail, Inspiration, murals, painting, Photography, storytelling on July 21, 2014| Leave a Comment »
The Abbey Room at the Boston Public Library, with its richly colored wall paintings, is one of my favorite indoor sites in Boston. The murals depict the Quest and Achievement of the Holy Grail and, according to the Boston Public Library website, were installed in 1895 by Edwin Austin Abbey. Today I had the opportunity to drop in for a moment to snap a few photos. Here are a few favorites from the day. You can read more about the Grail story here and you can read more about Edwin Austin Abbey here.
a golden moment
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged abstract, art, beauty, colors, flowers, Georgia O'Keeffe, Inspiration, interiors, lillies, Photography on July 16, 2014| 5 Comments »
scenes from one year ago …
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged abstract, beauty, Charles River, Charles River Esplanade, Inspiration, landscape, nature, nature photography, Photography, surreal, water on July 10, 2014| 4 Comments »
… while peering into the Charles River.
I think I was tucked at the base of a bridge along the Esplanade trying to photograph fish, and then I thought, why not photograph the patterns forming in and on the water.
I have not been back to the river much at all. We’ll see what happens before this summer’s end.
found a rainbow, too
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged Arnold Arboretum, beauty, colors, landscape, light, nature, Photography, rainbow on July 7, 2014| 2 Comments »
ephemeral beauty
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged beauty, dandelion, flowers, Inspiration, musings, nature, nature photography, Photography, plants, urban landscape on June 30, 2014| 7 Comments »
I’m not sure if it was a dandelion. The wispy head was the size of a softball. I’d never seen one so large before. There were, in fact, three growing on the side of the hill. I saw them as I raced to the train station. Running late, I couldn’t photograph them at the time. A few hours later, heading home, I saw that there was only this one remaining. The others had blown away.
This one’s placement on the hill was too high, and the plants around it too thorny, for me to get too close. I zoomed in as best I could but I could not brush away the grasses growing in front of it. Later, I considered deleting the image — it was not what I had expected — but something stayed my hand long enough to see the beauty of what I had captured, and which existed no more except in memory.
beautiful design
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged animals, beauty, design, Inspiration, nature, nature photography, oceans, Photography, sea urchin, shells on June 28, 2014| 6 Comments »
The sea urchin shell was whole when I picked it up off the beach but I was too cavalier when I placed it in my bag. In the end, only one section was broken, and not lost. So, if I am careful, I can recreate the whole with barely perceptible, yet beautiful lines, marking the breaks.
phillips brooks window at trinity church
Posted in Inspiration, tagged architecture, arts, arts and crafts, beauty, book cover design, colors, design, history, Inspiration, Phillips Brooks, Photography, Sarah Wyman Whitman, stained glass windows, Trinity Church in Copley Square on June 28, 2014| 4 Comments »
Like Lucy R. Woods, mentioned in a prior post, Sarah Wyman Whitman (1842-1904) taught Bible class at Trinity Church in Boston for over thirty years. She was also an accomplished artist working in multiple media, from painting to glasswork to book cover design.
She was friends with Phillips Brooks, the rector of Trinity Church. Upon his passing, she and her Sunday Bible class gifted the church with a window in his memory.
It was begun in 1895 and installed Easter, March 1896. In a letter dated March 12, 1896, Whitman writes:
“The little memorial to Mr Brooks which my Bible Class has long dreamed of, is now finished and waiting to be put up at Easter. Someday I will show you this, and meantime send a little rough sketch. The three windows are in the Parish Room where the Class meets, and as it is also used for many practical purposes, 
the windows (three giving on the cloister to the south) are kept in clear glass with jewelled flowers at the intersecting of the little frames …and then the middle one with a single device.
In the glass of course there is a depth and richness that this paper sketch little conveys.”
The window is located in the parish library, and is another hidden gem of an architectural masterpiece. If you would like to learn more about Sarah Wyman Whitman, there are some great resources available online including her letters. The Boston Public Library has put together a gallery of her book cover designs. Learn more about Trinity Church architectural tours here.
from which nest, I do not know
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged abstract art, beauty, colors, feathers, Inspiration, nature, nests, Photography on June 25, 2014| 2 Comments »
a feather blew through the kitchen window to land upon a bottle on the floor
the house is surrounded by sparrows and blue jays and a baby robin I know I saw on the parking lot below
hawks fly past and pigeons dot roof tops and seagulls are like rats constantly on the prowl
but from which specific nest this bit of white fluff came, I’ll never know for sure
I can only imagine
how time flies … spring into summer
Posted in Inspiration, tagged art, Asian influence, beauty, collaboration, collage, creativity, geisha, illustration, Inspiration, paper arts, Photography, seasons, summer, Zoe Langosy on June 20, 2014| 2 Comments »
Spring/Summer Geisha, artwork by Zoe Langosy
I feel like I was just complaining about how long the winter was and now spring is easing into summer. That’s all the excuse I need to share this post from the past — Embodying Nature Through Collage — about a collaboration with artist Zoe Langosy who is one of the few people in the world encouraged to cut up my photos because she incorporates the pieces into such beauty, like this Spring/Summer Geisha. Have a good weekend, folks, and here’s to having a good summer. 😉
