i am participating in artful adventures

with natalie kalbach.  the idea is that we stroll through

our neighborhood and see with new eyes.  she gives a daily prompt

for us to photograph and post.   i have been posting on 

instagram but will try posting  the photos along with my comments

here as well.   i am posting several prompts here to catch up.

thanks for bearing with me!

home 

i know i'm home when i brush by these Epidendrum orchids 

to enter my front door.  They are from my grandfather's cuttings.  

my mother also had pots of them in various stages and colors.  

fence

a peek through my side fence.

window

i see the garage and sunrise every morning

from my studio window.

ground

today i clear this bit of a space

to make room for a raised bed garden

i grew up with one grandfather who was 

a gardener and another who grew his own 

vegetables in the back yard.  whenever

i touch the soil, i picture them bent over,

nurturing the ground that fed their families.

sky

it's that kind of day.  big clouds, no cars 

on the street, endless dreams.

mailbox

my mailbox is across the street with my neighbors.  

my block is the only block in the city where the mail is not 

delivered in front of the house.  they say it is to save 

the mail person from driving on both sides of the street.  i don't mind.  

i like  chatting with my neighbors at mail time. 

my week in photos ...
and a few words

sunrise over palos verdes, no filter.  

the color i think comes
from the windshield
but i like the effect.

the sun

have you ever seen

anything

in your life

more wonderful

than the way the sun,

every evening,

 released and easy, 

floats toward the horizon

and into the clouds or the hills,

or the rumpled sea,

and is gone~

and how it slides again

out of the blackness,

every morning,

on the other side of the world,

like a red flower

streaming upward on its heavenly oils,

say, on a morning in early summer,

at its perfect imperial distance~

and have you ever felt for anything

such wild love~

do you think there is anywhere, in any language,

a word billowing enough 

for the pleasure

that fills you,

as the sun

reaches out,

as it warms you

as you stand there

empty-handed~

or have you too

turned from this world~

or have you too

gone crazy

for power,

for things?

mary oliver

teabag paintings, reference from henri matisse

all collage teabag, reference journal sketch

teabag, pencil sketching

large commissioned piece

tomatomania tomato-titas growing 

and sunset over the pacific, catalina in the background

it is friday of a long holiday weekend.  thank you

for taking the time to visit.  your comments mean a lot to 

me.   have a fun one for all who celebrate and be safe.

posting with friends at paint party friday.