Walk Into The Picture #5

Sit, Sip and Smell,  May 2017

Walk into the picture and smell the lilacs.  They are so irresistible aren't they?  In the spring when the flowers are blooming and the air is sweet and fragrant it's almost impossible not to harvest the flowers in the yard, isn't it?

 If you examine closely you'll see three different types of lilacs that have subtle differences, one from the other. The bleeding hearts are always so delicate that you may be afraid to touch them, so be gentle.

Can you help us name the little yellow buds?  My husband thinks they're yarrow but the pictures I see on the web don't match with yarrow.  We've been gifted with them for the first time this year.  Don't know where they came from or how long they're staying but I love them.  And given the decision to pull them or let them flourish, I opted for let them be.

Look at the three books from which you can choose, "Still Life," "Poem A Day," and "Michelangelo's Notebook."   Choose the one that calls to you.  Or, bring your own book and help yourself to the chilled glass of white wine.  Pearls always make any occasion better, in my opinion. You can pass or play.

I invite you to find a comfortable spot to sit and sip and smell the flowers.  Enjoy this moment of mindfulness.

 Fine Art Reproductions Available at Fine Art America:

  https://fineartamerica.com/featured/sit-sip-and-smell-may-2017-wendy-blomseth.html

Sweets

Sweets, #2034,  April 2017 

Sweets for my sweet sister who not only is a very sweet and kind person but also an excellent baker who brought a delicious blueberry cake for Easter dinner.

Pomegranate

Inspiration comes from many sources.  This still life is inspired by a poem I discovered at www.poets.org.  I invite you to read the poem and see which elements I brought into this still life.

"POMEGRANATE by Kevin Pilkington ....
A woman walks by the bench I’m sitting on
with her dog that looks part Lab, part Buick,
stops and asks if I would like to dance.
I smile, tell her of course I do. We decide
on a waltz that she begins to hum.

We spin and sway across the street in between
parked cars and I can tell she realizes
she chose a man who understands the rhythm
of sand, the boundaries of thought. We glide
and Fred and Ginger might come to mind or
a breeze filled with the scent of flowers of your choice.
Coffee stops flowing as a waitress stares out the window
of a diner while I lead my partner back across the street.

When we come to the end of our dance,
we compliment each other and to repay the favor
I tell her to be careful since the world comes to an end
three blocks to the east of where we stand. Then
I remind her as long as there is a ’59 Cadillac parked
somewhere in a backyard between here and Boise
she will dance again.

As she leaves content with her dog, its tail wagging
like gossip, I am convinced now more than ever
that I once held hundreds of roses in my hands
the first time I cut open a pomegranate. "

poem: The Telephone by Robert Frost

Red Lily, July 2016 

The Telephone   

           Robert Frost, 1874 - 1963

“When I was just as far as I could walk

From here to-day,

There was an hour

All still

When leaning with my head against a flower

I heard you talk.

Don’t say I didn’t, for I heard you say—

You spoke from that flower on the window sill—

Do you remember what it was you said?”

“First tell me what it was you thought you heard.”

“Having found the flower and driven a bee away,

I leaned my head,

And holding by the stalk,

I listened and I thought I caught the word—

What was it? Did you call me by my name?

Or did you say—

Someone said ‘Come’—I heard it as I bowed.”

“I may have thought as much, but not aloud.”

“Well, so I came.”

      https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/telephone-0

poem: Museum

MUSEUM 

           by Keith Leonard (link below to audio and text)

"I walked the three floors

of the local antique store

and imagined white plaques

adorning each room

—but unlike museums

I could touch the displays,

and could take a seat

at a beautiful walnut table—

I could wonder about the moment

its palm-stained patina

went from simply dirty

to expensively antique—that

singular moment the thing

became slightly more

than a thing by simply

continuing to be

the very same thing—all its cracks

thick as the edge of a quarter—

all its smoothed over corners—

all its dark knots flourishing—

and I thought I could live

for awhile in this very

same body—and did, somehow,

and was loved, somehow,

into a third body, which totters

across the living room,

and whose knees I kiss

when he stumbles,

and the difference between

just now and not

is an aperture’s quick snap—

is breath-delicate—

it must have been Luck

—I see it—that saddled me,

the blind horse rising

and falling as the carnival

blared from the brass pipes,

as the carousel twirled

its crown of lights,

and one by one the bulbs

went dark—and so it is,

this life—this goddamn

lucky life—the organ

sounding off the melody,

the platform winding down,

and the horses still bounding."

About This Poem by Keith Leonard

“On a rare day, I’m reminded how paper-thin and tearable existing is—the aneurysm, the cancer, the errant car jumping the curb—and such chance mortality both terrifies me and fills me with gratitude, since many of those I love are still here, somehow, and I’m still here, somehow. This poem was written on one of those grateful days.”

—Keith Leonard"

https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/museum-0

I signed up for the "Poem of the Day" and this was the selection for July  8, 2016.  

Bread, Wine, Cheese and Thou

Bread, Wine, Cheese and Thou, 2016

All my images are a photo journal of my life events, of course, so that means they also overtly or covertly represent my spouse, family and friends.  This image is a Valentine's Day still life created with the intention of representing the lovely verses by Omar Khhayyam

XII

A Book of Verses underneath the Bough.

A Jug of Wine, A Loaf of Bread--and Thou

Beside me singing in the Wilderness--

Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!

I love how I get focused on a theme or a verse and it all magically comes together into a still life portrait. When others see the still life portrait they see the objects, but I see and feel the people who helped bring it all together and the magical creation process. 

Today this portrait started with a backdrop curtain gifted to me from friend Sarah M. when she moved out of her previous studio. I'd been waiting for the right opportunity to use it and thought it would be ideal for a Valentine still life that would look like a classic painting. 

Coincidentally, the second friend who contributed was also a Sarah.  Our neighbor Sarah S. had generously shared hearty sour dough bread, Newton label red wine and Stilton blue cheese, all yummy. Sarah was alongside Karl and I when I purchased the lovely flower arrangement at Bachman's during their Winter Farmer's Market open house.

The remaining objects called to me asking to be included in the portrait also,  i.e. set of poetry books,  olive oil and vinegar from Vom Foss, an orange, nuts and lastly, cinnamon candies.

I created about 20 images as the afternoon winter sunlight peaked in and out of hazy clouds and illuminated this scene. As always I had the camera firmly planted on my Bogen studio tripod and a reflector positioned to bounce back the available light. But this time I did a little experimentation for a change at the prompting from an art exhibit attendee who I chatted with recently. He queried why didn't I photograph at the wide open end of the focal settings such as f1.4, f2, f4 and the like so it looked like a contemporary photo.

My answer was basically that, for my purposes I feel I get the desired effect by photographing at f8,  or f11 so everything is sharp and in focus and has the look and feel of a classic painting. 

But, just for a little variety and to overcompensate for the hazy sunlight I thought I'd play at both ends today and compare the results.  

I'm happy to say that I loved three different images at three different settings:  f2, f5 and f10 so I had test prints made of all of them so I could carefully examine them up close.

Final favorite that is now going to the next production level, a canvas enlargement, is the f5 image because it helped to soften the pattern of the curtains and yet keep all the objects in sharp focus. 

I just love it when I get to play, experiment and do something a little different each time.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Backyard Birds with Mary Oliver poem

Poem by Mary Oliver:

“How I go to the woods

Ordinarily, I go to the woods alone, with not a single
friend, for they are all smilers and talkers and therefore
unsuitable.

I don’t really want to be witnessed talking to the catbirds
or hugging the old black oak tree. I have my way of
praying, as you no doubt have yours.

Besides, when I am alone I can become invisible. I can sit
on the top of a dune as motionless as an uprise of weeds,
until the foxes run by unconcerned. I can hear the almost
unhearable sound of the roses singing.

If you have ever gone to the woods with me, I must love
you very much.”
― Mary Oliver