Tag Archives: flower

Flowers within flowers

Echinacea, coneflower close-up, showing the yellow pollen.
Echinacea Cone flower
A ring of yellow pollen covered anthers on an echinacea in my neighbor's yard.
Flowers within flowers

The pollen starting to appear on these looks like little yellow flowers.

Echinacea (also known as Rudbeckia) is a composite flower.

At first glance, a composite flower like the daisy looks simple, with petals forming rays around a colorful disk. Upon closer inspection, however, these flowers aren’t simple at all. The flower is actually made up of many flowers–inflorescences–masquerading as a single flower. Each “petal” is a flower, as is each bump on the disk.

GardenGuides.com

For Cee’s Flower of the Day.

I gave these a painterly, textured look using Topaz Studio 2.

Wild Blackberry Blossom

Native Western Washington blooms are more subtle than other locations. Wild blackberry blossom, with salal blooming in the background.
I believe they are in the rose family.

In our area you see a lot of blackberries. Most are the Himalayan, a hybrid that escaped captivity, is very robust and has taken over the entire state. Occasionally, in little nooks and crannies you can find the older, native blackberries. It is smaller, more vine like and produces smaller, more flavorful berries. People who value them keep secret the locations of their favorite patches.

For Cee’s Flower of the Day.

Artsy Magnolias

A powder paint composite of a magnolia. Artistic effect applied using the GIMP.
Magnolia

Inspired by Bren of Brashley Photography in some of her recent posts, I experimented with powder painting using the GIMP instead of Photoshop. While I’ve had some success, I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of the technique.

For Cee’s Flower of the Day and Brashley Photography’s Floral Friday (yes, I am late. But I had to figure out how to do it!). I made a YouTube video to explain what I did:

Video showing how to do the Powder Paint method in the GIMP.

Whatsoever is Lovely Challenge-2022 Week 11

This challenge is simple: step back for a few minutes each week to find a lovely thing, a precious moment, anything you find lovely. Then post about it. You can just post a picture or you can go into detail and tell it as a reflection, story or poem.

It could be anything:

a smile…a rainbow…a flower…a kind act…a tasty treat

What was lovely in your life this week?

Continue reading Whatsoever is Lovely Challenge-2022 Week 11

Spring in triplicate

I don’t care what the calendar (or weather forecast) says: When the daffodils bloom it is spring.

Our geriatric cat got me up at 0 dark 30 to feed her. Her bowl was down and full already, but I guess she needed companionship to eat. I couldn’t get back to sleep so I messed about with these trios of daffodils I took for Mama Cormier’s Thursday Trios in Topaz Studio 2.

Giving the photos painterly effects is restful, almost contemplative. Not quite as good as actual sleep, but you take what you can get.

Also for Cee’s Flower of the Day (in this case night!).

I got sunshine on a cloudy day…

The daffodils are coming into their own, providing some welcome cheer as we endure yet another “atmospheric river”.

Yet, for some reason, I actually kind of like them in shades of gray.

Daffodil in black and white.

I used the GIMP to convert the image to black and white. I have a post about doing this on my other website: Black and white digital photo processing using the GIMP.

For Cee’s Flower of the Day.

Whatsoever is Lovely Challenge-2022 Week 10

This challenge is simple: step back for a few minutes each week to find a lovely thing, a precious moment, anything you find lovely. Then post about it. You can just post a picture or you can go into detail and tell it as a reflection, story or poem.

It could be anything:

a smile…a rainbow…a flower…a kind act…a tasty treat

What was lovely in your life this week?

Continue reading Whatsoever is Lovely Challenge-2022 Week 10