Tag Archives: flowers

Tulip Town

Tulip Town is a tulip farm located in the Skagit Valley just west of Mt. Vernon, Washington (north of Seattle). You can visit their site (here). Skagit Valley is a fertile farming valley that typically has field upon field in full bloom with tulips and daffodils this time of year. Last winter was an especially tough winter for this farming valley. The region experienced an exceptionally wet winter of rain that has continued into the spring. Many fields have been flooded and the spring floral blooms aren’t as robust as normal. Having said that, it is still beautiful with many spring tulips in bloom.

A couple of weeks ago in the middle of numerous days of rain, we had a warm sunny day and my wife and I decided to take advantage of the sunshine by visiting Tulip Town. We weren’t disappointed with the beauty of fields of tulips in full bloom and many other fields just starting to bloom. In all candor with or without the blooms, the valley is beautiful all by itself. I have attached ten captures from our time there. Enjoy!!

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Seattle Spring 2021

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(As a follow up to last weeks post Tombstone, Arizona in Sepia, I asked for feedback on which sepia print was favored to help me narrow down to one or two. Ironically 1, 3 &4 got identical likes. Thanks!)

My wife and I just got back from a couple of weeks in Seattle. Two of our daughters and their husbands live there and this trip was great as we were able to spend time with all of them. One of the things I enjoy doing when we are up there is walking their dogs as needed. On one of my walks I was blown away by all of the spring blooms. On this particular walk the area is well established and the trees and bushes are very mature and large. I wanted to share some of the blooms I came across.

And to complete the captures, I had to share the following due to the shear size and look of this tree trunk…incredible.

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Camellia Blooms In Pastel

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Last winter, I shared a number of photographic captures of camellia blooms from our trees and bushes. Each bush or tree is a different variety giving us a mix of colors and types. Doing some yard work this week, I saw that buds were forming on the camellias in preparation for this winters bloom. Today I wanted to share a couple of art prints I created using that photo shoot as an inspiration and template for some digital art.

I have attached two prints I created using a pastel chalk technique. To create a little more definition of the petals on the bloom, I used a very thin brush stroke. The first one is a pink bloom and the second one a red bloom and bud.

Camellia Pastel Pink Bloom

Camellia Bud And Bloom

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Welcome Summer

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With the official start of summer today, what would be more appropriate than flowers from a summer garden? The two attached shots are from a beautiful flower garden located on the grounds of the Sharlot Hall Museum located in Prescott, Arizona. Welcome Summer!!!

The Bold And Beautiful Pair

In The Summer Garden

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Camellia Crazy – Photoshoot

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I was working with some new equipment this week and decided to test some things out with a quick photo shoot. I didn’t get any further than our front and back yard. This time of year Camellia’s are in full bloom and the house we have in Los Angeles happens to have a few mature Camellia trees. I have always admired the blooms from our daughters garden here in Los Angeles. This is the time of year they come into full bloom and they do make for great macro shots.

The first picture gives you a feel for the various stages of bloom the trees are in at this time of year. You can see buds from the formation stage through the various stages of opening up including full bloom.

Camellia One

This bloom is just opening up and as you can see is a bright red blossom. This bloom comes from a neighboring tree to the one above.

Camellia Two

From the same tree as picture number two, red blossom fully opened.

Camellia Three

A completely different tree with soft pink blooms.

Camellia Four

End of day sunlight hitting this bloom….

Camellia Five

Same late day sun, but back to the first tree which has pink and white blooms.

Camellia Six

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Soft Abstract Roses – Featured Art Prints

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I love taking macro photographic shots of rose buds and blooms. The colors, texture, etc. create such beautiful visual imagery. Today, I wanted to feature a softer take on rose blooms and then explain how I created them by taking a step back through the process I use to create this type of digital art. I have used Adobe Photoshop for years….probably since it first came out. I remember taking classes from the University of San Diego on how to get the most out of it from an artist perspective. Trust me, it was many years and many versions ago. What I love about the program is the ability to do layers for each of the steps I go through. These roses are a great example of the process, so I will walk you through a simplified version of it.

I start with my macro photography of the rose bloom as the background layer. I then open an empty layer on top of it and using an ink stroke tool (Photoshop), draw the edges and shapes I want to highlight in black. Then I create another layer and pick a digital brush style I like (the brush style I picked here creates an almost air brush look..soft edges). On the blank layer I paint larger areas of colors by painting over the photograph if you will. The large areas of similar colors create the abstract look. I then move the “ink stroke layer” to the top of the layers, eliminate the bottom photograph, merge the layers and the end result is what you are looking at (simplified version as I actually open many laters typically for each color tone).

I also would like to mention that for the painting layer, there are numerous programs out there that can take your photograph and turn it into just about any style of painting. I use these programs in cases where I want to keep the detail of the photograph and am looking for more 3-D brush strokes as you would see in oil paintings. Even in that scenario, I come back in and work the resulting art print with some of the detail I described here.

This is a quick and simple walk through of my process that in actuality is very tedious and for every print I publish, five to seven are trashed by me for not liking the end result.

Orange Rose Bud In Abstract Watercolor

Pink and Orange Rose In Abstract Watercolor

Soft Red Rose Bloom In Abstract Watercolor

Subtle Red Rose In Abstract Watercolor

Yellow Rose In Abstract Watercolor

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Rose Blooms in Macro – Excerpts from a Photo Shoot

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Having just spent some time in Los Angeles with our granddaughter while Mom and Dad were away, I was reminded of just how beautiful rose blooms were right now in that part of the country. Our daughter and her husband have beautiful flower gardens surrounding their house and I have featured some of their flowers on this blog. With that inspiring me, I have attached five macro shots I have taken from two different photo shoots.

“Red Rose Bloom”

This first one is from a public garden in Portland, Oregon. This deep red rose bud was just starting to open up.

The Unfolding Of A Pink Rose Bud

This capture was from the Territorial Rose Garden in Prescott, Arizona (as are the rest of the attached shots). The bud was unfolding into a fuller bloom.

Orange Bud

Getting a tighter framing on this rose blooms pulls the detail of the rose petals into full view, even slight discoloration on a couple of the center petals.

Full Red Velvet Rose Bloom

It truly looks like velvet with this deep red bloom.

Full Purple Rose Bloom

And finally this purple bloom as a macro brings out the laciness of the petal edges.

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Lounge In The Back Yard – Featured Art Print

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Lounge in the Yard

The 1st of May has arrived. May has always been one of my favorite months and when I think of May, the attached picture is what I think of. I can just picture myself reading a book sipping an ice tea on a warm spring day in a yard like this….I came across this scene during the month of May a few years back on Martha’s Vineyard just off the coast in Massachusetts. Enjoy!!

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