Leap Into Spring: Green

Alicia (of Project Alicia), Rebecca (of Bumbles and Light), and Kristi (of Live and Love ... Outloud) are offering a 6-week photography challenge aimed at capturing the beauty of spring. This week's prompt is green and I am happy to have a very green photo this week. If you'd like to participate or find out more info, click on the button below! I captured this shot of my rhododendron bush earlier this week while the sun was setting through our neighbor's trees. I was very happy that I somehow got some bokeh in my photo - it's never intentional! lol...every once in awhile, my lovely point-and-shoot just does it without any input from me.

Photo Art

Real life has kept me so busy this week...for Photo Art Friday, the suggested prompt was to create a piece of photo art based around our favorite book. What a clever prompt, and a thoughtful one, too - unfortunately, last night I hadn't even had time to start thinking about what to do. So this week I simply picked a flower photo and spent a few minutes adding layers until I liked it. This was a close-up shot of a dogwood flower - I used Bonnie's "Fabrique" texture and also several other layers, including a public domain image for the flower center (using a reverse layer mask). I was happy with the "grungy" effect. I'm also linking up to Leanne's Flower Art Friday (both her and Bonnie's Photo Art Friday buttons are at the bottom of this post). Happy Friday, everyone~~

Reaching for the Sun

I stumbled upon this wild flower in the woods behind my house...one delicate flower, in the midst of tall trees, happily existing with no worries. How I wish I could be like that flower, free from worry and life's everyday stresses! Finding it made me smile and brightened my day; flowers always do that. They're so perfectly beautiful, each and every one - especially the wild ones. They weren't planted intentionally by human hands; they were brought to that place by the wind, by the whims of mother nature, sprawled there and growing...basking in the elements and not worrying about what the weather or tomorrow will bring. What a beautiful reminder.

SMUDGED

At the bottom of my heart
In that place just before tears
Lies a dark, hidden hollow
Strewn with hesitations
Swollen seeds of fear
Smudged with my fingerprints
An untended mess, an
Overgrowth of worries
In an arc that won't disappear

While outside in nature's garden
Sprawled along earth's fault lines
Every flower has tended itself
In the succulent air of spring
Accepting its part in the story
No woeful beatings of the heart
Its petals steeped only in dew
Purely basking in the essence
Of its own color

Flowers reaching for the sun
With no squaring off or circling
Around the rain and thunder messages
Just an unquestioned knowing
While their roots lie in darkness
To sleep tenderly in the soil
To wholly grow tall toward
The light and blue sky
If a story is to be told at all.

© Sherri Brannon

Shades of Pink

“Flowers have spoken to me more than I can tell in written words. They are the hieroglyphics of angels, loved by all men for the beauty of their character, though few can decipher even fragments of their meaning.” ~Lydia M. Child

Floral Art

Leanne over at Photos by Leanne has started a new weekly photo prompt called "Floral Art Friday". Using flower photos, you add layers/texture, etc., to make your photo look more "artful". Since this is my favorite thing to do in PSE, I'm excited to participate (one day late)! If you want to give it a try, click on Leanne's button at the bottom of this post! For this image, I started with a purple flower I saw in Occoquan, VA. I added a couple of textures over the top, one blended at Difference and the other at Vivid Light. For the flower center, I used a reverse layer mask and the Lighter Color blend mode to add in the tiny flowers (public domain image). I then finished it up in Radlab to lighten and brighten it slightly.

Original photo:

B is for Butterfly

For Photo Art Friday, we were to use one of Bonnie's textures while creating our photo art. I used her "Heavenly" texture at Saturation/100%. I started with a photo I took of some ivy on a wall in Occoquan, VA. I also added additional layers and a butterfly, followed by the text.

Original photo:

Spring Holly

In this photo I took, the background looks like spring, but the holly and berries make you think it's a fall photo. This is our neighbor's gorgeous tree...I never really thought about the fact that there are holly trees?? Excuse my lack of knowledge about this, but I'm not much of a gardner. I always assumed anything "holly" related was a bush, but this is a definite tree and it's about 25 feet tall. It has the gorgeous red berries on it year round. I couldn't resist getting a shot of it during my spring search for images.