Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Red, Yellow and Blue.........


Also green, black and white are there.

This is something that makes an artist get excited.  Moving color around on a canvas with fresh new tubes of paint to use.




Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Antique Store.......


This is an archived photo from a store in downtown Ames, Iowa.  It was probably ten years or more when I was there.  I had a group of art students with me and we were killing time after pizza before the bus was to leave to go to an art exhibit on the ISU campus. I don't know if the antique store is still in business today.

The gas station had these types of machines in which you would pump the gas up into the glass area at the top.  You would hand pump by a lever until you reached a measure of so many gallons and then you stopped pumping.  Then you would take the hose and allow the gas to flow through the hose into your model T.

No electricity involved as gravity was the energy to get it into the car and the person's arm was the energy needed to get the gas up into the top of the glass tank.




Monday, February 27, 2012

Remembering summer blooms..........


I am posting a similar theme on my Creative Zone blog.  I thought I would regroup them and oraganize them for you on this site.




Saturday, February 25, 2012

Think Spring............


The spent phlox stems and leaves show a welcome of color under all that white coating.  By spring I will need to get them trimmed back ready for the new green.  Spring seems a long time away and yet it is coming.




Friday, February 24, 2012

Snow Frosting........


The snow started late Thursday afternoon.  It was a light fluffy snow that cleaned up all the remaining snow.  It was more of a coating that the last snow. I have many photos of how it looks frosted all over the out of doors.






My only real good angle to take the snow effects on the ash tree also has our power line incorporated in the composition.





Thursday, February 23, 2012

Just for fun.......


I had a thought the other day as I was going through my many photos in my head of what to do with my very best photos.  I am talking about the ones that I really nailed it as a great photograph.

I thought maybe creating a blog just to show work like professional photographers do. I wouldn't write about them but make the photo be it's own message. I suppose I could title each photograph and date it.  It could include the creative ones and ones with an unusual angle.  It could be the photo that has tremendous color and design. It could be the photos that have human commentary or animals with soul.

It would be nice to archive them as an artist would do when a grand showing.

It could be a lot of work.

I then rolled over and went back to sleep.




Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Old tractor........


At the park in Minburn, Iowa, 2006, gathered all of these tractors from young to old. This old tractor was doing well as it traveled along with all the newer tractors.  This tractor was not fully restored, meaning no new paint job.  In the antique world they like the original patina and I guess the owner of this tractor also liked that look.


A traveling politician, Charles Grassley, senator from Iowa, took a day off to drive his John Deere in the tractor race.  I know that they do things like this purposely to get themselves out there in front of those they are suppose to represent.  I suppose he flew in from DC just for the day.






Tuesday, February 21, 2012

The Great Iowa Tractor Ride.......


I found this photo full of color to share today.  It is from the past when my father in law and I had attended the Great Iowa Tractor Ride.  Hundreds of tractors are out doing their thing following each other across a large distance of the state.  It was sponsored by a local radio station.

It was fun to see all the old restored tractors as well as the big new expensive ones with air conditioned cabs.  A hundred at a time would come into this town, Minburn, Iowa and then the group would move on to the next destination.  Another group of a hundred would drive in to take their place as they made pit stops across the state.  I think there was over a thousand in the entire group that year.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Just Because........


The photo is archived and tomorrow's may also be a reposting too.  I found this photo in my picasa storage and I just really like it.  Marbles are like individual little artworks.  The color and the shine makes them magical.

 Finding them loose outside while you dig in your garden makes them a joyful gift.  Finding them in the basement of my parents house is wonderful. Finding them around the house is fun too.  I use to buy bags of them at garage sales and the boys would play with them, so they are scattered through out their boxes of stored things.  Never will there be a loose marble that I won't pick up and pocket it for storage in my jar.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Sunday's Statue...........


It is actually another shot of a figurine that I probably have posted a few time before now.  The light from the window and from above gives it different and interesting shadows.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Saturday's whiteout.........


No, we didn't have any snow. It is just another rose with it's pure whiteness. Our snow is melting away a little each day.  It is warm enough in the afternoon outside that there is mud for Barney to get into so I walk him every afternoon. 







Friday, February 17, 2012

Red Rose Glow........


The unfolding of a rose is so wonderful as it changes it's appearance throughout it's days. I asked and received a dozen roses for my wife with the scheme of red, pink and white. It really was a great, different bouquet.  Because they didn't get it delivered by 4:00 and I had to go pick it up, they gave me one more free red rose for the arrangement. So it was a baker's dozen of roses this year.




Thursday, February 16, 2012

Line them up........


Everybody is lined up for display.  The pieces are all bought at different times and different places.  The bunnies were a gift from me to my wife.  The brown bird was found in a shop at Grand Marais, Minnesota at tourist gift shop.  The blue one was purchased on a whim by my wife somewhere in a shop here in Iowa.




Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Wednesday's Wandering.....


I don't have a photo for today as I have found time to be scheduled in too tightly.  I thought I would say I was going to go fishing today but I don't think that sitting on ice would be that fun, but maybe it is. So I will just give you a shot of my dad's old fishing lure, and maybe I will just show you a few more than just one.




This was my dad's emergency kit when he would go fishing on the little lakes around Osceola. He had a larger tackle box which he gave to his grandsons but this one he kept with the dream that he might go fishing again one last time.




Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Ugly........


I am waiting for a really bad snow storm and then I am going to light them up again.  I still have my lights on the tree next to them and it will look really cool when I light them up in snow drifts.  Right now it is ugly. We didn't have a lot of snow during the Christmas season and I needed an excuse to leave them up.  I will light them up for a couple of days, 24 hours a day, when we get the big one, whenever that is.




Monday, February 13, 2012

Snow


We will be returning to this type of scene again today. This scene was taken last Saturday.  The weeds are actually flower stems that I had not removed from the gardens last fall. Today we will receive about two inches of snow.  It made the roads slick and icy early this morning.





Sunday, February 12, 2012

Sunday snack..........


I had just put out fresh seed and the guy with the tail was right up there ready to eat.  We have another squirrel, the guy with half of a tail, who has lost part of his tail for some reason.  I don't know if a car ran over the end of it or what.  I don't really mind feeding them as long as there are not too many of them. I think we are down to two squirrel.  Four or more tend to spend a lot of time fighting among themselves over the feeders.




Saturday, February 11, 2012

Sunshine and it is cold........


Our low last night was 2 degrees, -16 C. but we have now warmed up to 25 degrees F.  The sun shines into the dining room making it to appear a lot warmer outside that it really is.  The wind from the arctic northwest winds makes it s sub temperature reading and if feels like it when you are out in it. I worked outside on my sidewalks for a few minutes and it left me with a headache.  I didn't do much but I needed to address some sidewalk issues.




Friday, February 10, 2012

Add some ornaments........

The past weekend snow gave us a lot of decoration on our trees. Now most of it is gone but the temperatures are now in the deep freeze. What snow that is still on the ground will not be going anywhere for a long time.




Thursday, February 9, 2012

Another Spot of Color......


I have no intention in taking this down until the greens have stopped being green.  It hangs outside our door on the trellis and the birds can enjoy it while they feed at the small feeder next to it.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Wednesday's Spot of Red.........


I have seen two pair of cardinals so far.  I know we had three pair last year but it hasn't been a harsh enough winter to bring them all in from the woods.




Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Barnabas loves the snow..............

 

Many times he will just go out and find a place to roll around in the snow.  I know he has a heavy coat and that he gets too warm in the house.  So when it snows, he loves it, and sometimes just lays around in it.


Dog in motion, which is what border collies do. They are always in motion. He is so excited because the neighbor bunch of small dogs were just let out into their backyard and a squirrel is above him on a branch.


Dog at rest. Barney was a little tiffed with me because I had left his yard to scoop a sidewalk.  He was ready for me to return. Once I was back he then got up to patrol his fence again.

This is another three photo day instead of just one.  I have too many photos to deal out to do just one at a time.

Monday, February 6, 2012


The birch tree collects the snow to enhance itself with frosting.  The lines of the bottom branches of a birch seem to always sway downward.  When you trim away some of the bottom branches of the tree, the branches above will grow or sag downward to fill the space, to again hit you in the face as you walk by the tree. The hoar frost on the branches blend in today with the snow that still clings from Saturday's snow.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Looking Through..........





Our snowstorm yesterday gave me an opportunity to take more photos than I would need for my blogs.  Today is multiple photos a day as I think that you can understand they all fall in the category of "looking through."

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Winter White............


It started at 6 in the morning with a light rain turning to snow.  Barney has clumps of snow on his back and really doesn't care. We were out to feed the birds and scoop and area for the little dog to walk on when he comes outside.  It did snow back over already and I will return later in the day to do it again.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Finch Friday......


I was given zebra finches many years ago. I actually believe the science teacher dumped three females on me.  I went out and bought a male for them.  They reproduced well and I gave a lot of finches out in pairs.  As time has gone by through the years they have finally faded out in numbers.  I have this lone male in one cage and another lone male that likes to pull out it's neck feathers when it gets nervous.  I would like to put the two together but I think the nervous guy would be upset with the situation.

I really like the call of the rooster finch and the do call even when there is no female around. When you feed them the male calls as if he is warning others to stay away from his seed.  In the spring I may buy a female partner for this guy and start a new family again.  I don't like to transport birds during the winter even though they are cold blooded creatures.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

A Macro Painting.......

Variegated African Violet
I like to experiment with the macro setting on the camera as it never performs the same way each time.  I have found artificial light and natural light gives the macro two different color readings and the effects sometimes prove to be interesting.  I have mentioned before that reds are sometimes hard to photograph and the different amounts of light effect it.  Low light really can give some great shots.  I had the light of the window coming in on one side and I had the dining room ceiling lights on giving me a different light quality.

The photo I took was larger and the majority was blurred.  I almost tossed the photo and then I saw one section of the photo was closer to being in focus than the rest of the picture.  This is the cropped part that turned out to be a great shot. I guess what I like about the digital is that you can have accidental creations that do turn out great.




Blurry Blue Cup Day.....

 It is Monday and I am a little blurry eyed today. It is fitting then my blue cup is blurred a little because it is in low light. I was too ...