Wednesday, August 29, 2012
vanda glorious
My very favorite color appearing in this glorious Vanda Orchid....! This flower is so very delicate, yet, startling strong....I could stare at this all day long, and never tire of the amazing design of this stunning flower.....Nature has gifted us with this exquisite breath-taking vision---you just have to stop and take a look.....
There is a translucent quality to the pattern in each petal....the design, is extraordinary! Imperfectly Perfect, in my view. Look closely.......
Something pink behind this petal....Again, not perfect, but, real. The truth of the way it really is....A design that looks out of focus when you get closer---and yet, when further away it looks in focus. How fantastic is that?
And look at that center-piece...It looks like a very fashionable ascot from the 17th or 18th Century...(I'm not good on years, even when it is centuries...)...The deep dark Violet at the bottom of that ascot....Fantastic. The folds at the top of the ascot---Glorious! Where can I get a scarf like that, please?
Oh My! Who is that little person? Wearing that gorgeous Ascot...Sad little eyes. It reflects my inner feelings, completely. I am so grateful....and, in my eyes, it is so very beautiful! And look at the background---those incredible lovely petals....Below.....More of these glorious petals.......
Every which way you look at this flower---Any Which Way You Look At This Flower----It Is Stunning......!
No matter how how you look at it----it is rivetingly beautiful!
And, here below.....more than a few blooms......
Another of nature's great great gifts to us all....The Lavender Vanda Orchid.......More To Come.......
NOTE: I seem to be getting slower and slower about posting....It's been almost 7 years and I feel I have run out of things to write about at this time---it's been a very hard year for me..(A hard couple of years, actually..) and I am not sure I can share all that I feel here, right now. I'm just too sad, you see. So.....I may just take a little break from blogging---well, I'm not sure I will---but.....if I do....Hopefully, I will be back, and I will visit you all even if I'm not posting.....
| posted by OldLady Of The Hills at 12:05:00 AM
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
natures gifts
Sorry I have been MIA....but, it's a strange time in my life and I have been busy with my yearly "EMMY" voting.....almost done, I think.....Anyway.....I LOVE this beautiful Succulent plant above----you can almost feel the little fuzz on each fleshy piece...Do click on it to make it bigger, and click again so you can really see how amazing nature is.....!
Another Succulent beauty---and a closer look in that second picture. This is a plant I know I have posted before, but it bears seeing once again.....The piping alone says it all!
The above flower is really teeny tiny--but look at how complex it is. You might not even take a second look if you didn't take the time to really look at it in the first place....This flower is produced by a very small "Hens & Chicks" plant---not a succulent, but it could be, in all it's beauty......
And, above....another very complex flower that is in abundance all over this succulent plant when it is flowering...worth seeing larger.....
Some of you may remember these Flowers on this 'Old Man Cactus'...I call them The Penis Flowers---not really accurate, but, it certainly makes people remember them.....They are quite complex and unlike any other flowers I have ever seen....I think they are exquisite!
Here above, another of natures gifts....a sweet little finch, having a lovely snack on some Cereus Fruit....Yummmm! And below, another dear little winged fellow.....
I love seeing the city in the background here.....Hummingbirds are such dear dear little Birds.....Here's a closer look, below.....
And below.....just a little bit closer.....
Natures Gifts.....I count all of these beauties as essential life- giving plasma to my general well being, and a great great gift to my heart, as well.....!More To Come.........
| posted by OldLady Of The Hills at 1:38:00 AM
Monday, August 13, 2012
art & friendship
I cannot remember if I ever showed this painting above, on my blog....This reproduction is not completely accurate--color wise, at all--but it's the best I have....I painted this in 1982-83....My deep interest in Flowers---Particularly Roses, had been in play since around 1977, when I did a series of photographs of Larry Parks' Rose Garden. Larry had died in 1975 and his dear son Garrett had continued to tend their Garden. In particular, Larry's Rose Garden. I must have taken 1000 pictures of the Roses in his special Garden. I have never shown any of them here on my blog because they are all slides and I need to get them digitized, and I cannot do that till I get a big chunk of change--it's an expensive process.....Below.....
Another Rose painting from that same period.....Of course these are abstractions of the "real" thing. It's just how I paint---it's my 'expression' of what a Rose looks like.....in acrylic. My dear dear old friend Lois Land, saw the top one of these paintings on the net and asked me about about it in an email....So I thought I would post the only two "rose" paintings I ever did, here on my blog....And speaking of Lois....she was here in Los Angeles in July, to visit me. We had a wonderful visit. I had not seen her--in person-- for many many years....She lives way up in Northern California and with work and family, it has not been easy for her to get down here.....California is a humongously big state....!
I first met Lois back in 1972. She was just about to turn 21 then...but, an old soul if ever there was one.....Below, a picture of her in Hawaii, in 1974. She accompanied me there and that is where she met her dear husband John. They have four boys---well, all men, now.....
Above....Lois, in Hawaii. She doesn't look all that different to me now, almost 40 years later. Unfortunately I can't say the same about me....!
We were at The Kona Village, (on the Big Island) for dinner.....The darling, talented wonderful Ron Rifkin had come to visit for a week and along with some other people, we went to The Kona Village, for a lovely dinner......
Above....Ron and Lois......We were early for our dinner reservation, so we walked around and probably had some refreshments before going in to dinner.....The Kona Village was a wonderful place---a real 'get-away' place for couples and family's, too...
Back to the present. My visit with Lois was so very healing for me....knowing someone so long and being so very close--she knew my father and my two sisters and of course had heard about my mother, in depth....So, although she had not ever met my dear brother Gordon, it was like she had, you know? So, having a lovely day with her where I could just be myself in all my grief, was a true gift---and we laughed a lot, too. Laughing and crying are so close, someyimes. The next day, one of her dear sons, Malachi and his lovely wife Nicole, came back from a day at Disneyland and Lois, Malachi and Nicole spent a little more time with me before they all went on their way to San Diego for a 'family' Birthday party.....
Nicole, Malachi and Lois, went down into my Cactus Garden, which I am no longer able to navigate, and took a few pictures like the ones above. They really enjoyed seeing it and it is always great for me to see other people's pictures of my Garden. To see things through their eyes that I might not see----especially, since I can no longer go down into it---is always great!
And, above.....Malachi, Nicole and Lois, with me, just before they left for San Diego. It was such a wonderful visit---it truly did my heart good! And speaking of hearts.......
Lois took this picture of an unfinished painting of mine from the mid-to-late 1980's---around 1986-87...She thought it was finished, but I knew it wasn't.....That section that looks white, over on the left side of the heart, was to have been painted in a certain "hopeful" way---with a light in the middle---But, I just never finished it.....Still...it sits on the floor, here in my bedroom, as it has, for all these years---I really always thought I would finish it----The Puzzle of The Heart. Here below, a painting I did finish which was in my One-Person Art Show in 1987---a very very large painting, by the way--(6' X 8')----that shows that light I was talking about......
Art and Friendship. Friendship and Art. These things are intertwined in my life in a huge way. I could probably write ten more posts about how these two things are related in my life...But for now, this will suffice......!More To Come.........
| posted by OldLady Of The Hills at 2:04:00 AM
Monday, August 06, 2012
time out for games
I am enjoying 'the games' of the 30th Olympiad, so very very much! So.....I am taking a bit of a 'time out' from blogging, till they are over......I'm excited for the wonderful Host country, Great Britain, and I Congratulate them on all the many medals that they are winning--exciting and touching, too.....London looks Fabulous; all the venues look fabulous.....I'm excited about Michael Phelps and Gabby Douglas and Andy Murray, to name just three of the wonderful athletes participating in these superlative games......
One very strange thing: The Gray Jackets that the USA Athletes wear when getting their medals....They look like Prison Garb. Institutional and Cold. Who signed off on that? These winners look like they are going to The Gray Bar Hotel, and not to the Winner's Circle....!
I'll be back when this second exciting week is over......Hope you are all enjoying the Games as much as I am.......
More To Come.........
| posted by OldLady Of The Hills at 10:30:00 PM
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