City girl on the farm….

You can take the city girl to the country but if you take the city girl to a farm and expect photos of cows, mountains, and grass…you may be disappointed.  Yes, it definitely was beautiful…the mountain, the cows, the sea glistening, the mountain against a clear blue sky….stunning!

But what really excited me (on a Sunday ten kilometre fund raising cross-farm walk) was none of these…it was the walls of an old dairy factory we visited. Others may have seen some old concrete,  some run-down old farm buildings, some exterior walls in need of repair, or just ignored the building (in favour of the water and biscuits), but I saw striking shapes, interesting colours, lots of texture, dramatic angles…I saw shadows and light play on the wall and I knew that to me, this was beautiful. How typical of me to find inspiration in a building when I am surrounded by absolutely stunning rural farm, coastal and mountain scenery.

Smoke in the fields…

Smoke covered the fields. While the smoke was creating an interesting vista, the only clearly visible and somewhat strangely located item was a trailer parked in the field and seemingly abandoned. I also liked the line of power poles leading to the homes by the sea. I was glad I had my camera with me.

Preparing for take off…

Sometimes you get to witness something special.

A monarch drying out its new wings and preparing for flight. Some, I understand, fly thousands of kilometres from North America to Mexico and back, while our New Zealand ones prefer to stay home!

It’s a new day…

 

“Don’t you get bored photographing the same thing?” It was a question I was asked today. And I smiled. Yes, it is the same road that I travel almost every week, backward and forward. A road I know every well now. Travelling the same road along the coast for nearly an hour each way. But bored?…No! Every moment offers a new photo opportunity…different light, different weather, different time of day, different season, different focus, different mental state, different camera lens and settings…so many variables…so many opportunities to get that one image that is the elusive “one”.

So, yes, it may be the same old road. But for a million other reasons, it’s a new day…and a new photo.

That’s our role, isn’t it as artists…to look at the same old thing as if we are looking at it for the first time?

The end of summer?

The last of the summer days…it feels like it. Yet it is only mid February. Surely we have another month or so of glorious weather to go still? I hope so….But this image of my daughter made me feel like summer was ending soon….the longer sleeves, greyer sky, only keen surfers out in the water. My daughter still however, black footed and sandy handed from exploring the beach.

Glass Bay’s secret treasures…

There is a bay, not far from here. If you like, you could say it is the site of an old dump. If you prefer, you could call it Glass Bay, known locally for its beach covered with sea glass, the beautiful result of bottles crushed and smoothed by rocks and ocean waves then covering the sand in a shiny and tiny glass and pebble mix underfoot.

There, I found this. Amongst the debris, junk, ruins and discarded waste of yesteryear that is now now falling down the cliff into the sea…it was too big and heavy for me to carry back up the steep rocky beach cliff, so I had to make do with admiring its design. There was something sentimental and romantic about its rusted and washed up presence on the beach…I just loved it.

PS… If you are reading this I will take it as a good sign that you can still find my blog…I have had to convert back to my word-press domain and address for this blog. I am building my website using my www.blackboxartstudio.com  address for that forum……..Hopefully you will hang in there while I get everything connected, and running properly….please have patience with me.

A sprinkle of diamonds…

It was as if all the leaves on this  plant had been sprinkled with loose diamonds….the green leaves were all shimmery and glistening with tiny diamonds it seemed. I looked again and realised it was tiny droplets of rain making the diamond bright sparkles on the leaves, in the morning sunshine.

December!

Dusk. December. Delightful. Dramatic.

The fourth letter of the Christmas Advent Alphabet, D.

Colour of the skate park…

I took these colourful abstract images at our local skate park. They are all images of a small hand-rail that skateboarders grind down as one of their tricks. When they do, they leave behind a tiny shard of their skateboard paint behind…and overtime the colours have built up…vivid pinks, blues and yellows…

When all seen together they look like abstract paintings – like mine, full of texture and colour. Maybe that is what attracted me to them?

I also like that the skate boarders leave a mark long after they go, not an obvious mark like a tag or unwanted graffiti, but a subtle un-intentional calling card, saying we were here. We brought colour and life here, on our fast moving wheels and with our daredevil tricks.

Summer is in the air…

It’s one of those days – just before summer really hits, but enough of a tempter to make you impatient for its full arrival. It’s the kind of day when you wash all your sheets and hang them on the line to dry in the sun…sparkly white and sun breezy sheets. It’s the kind of day where you fling open the windows and let the last of winter gloom escape and let the late spring/early summer blossom scented air in.

Fresh flowers just add to the promise of summer feel.

Roll on summer…may the days be endlessly sunny, the raspberries be sweet, the strawberries plentiful and the days long.