Tropical Botanical Miami

Back at the farm and only just catching up.

I really like this from Sandra at inanna shamaya.


















Waterlillies at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens in Miami.

The Fairchild gardens have become one of my favorite places on the face of the planet.


















I was there last Wednesday. But due to the Thanksgiving Eve traffic, only for 30 minutes before the gardens closed.


















And it seemed strange to us that they would close the gardens at what might well be the perfect moment for viewing them. During the cooler hours, with a soft golden sunlight creeping along the pathways...


















And the shadows are growing long...


















And things get kind of hazy...


















And magical!



Do you want to know if everything glittering will turn into the gold...
Heart of Mine by Peter Salett, & clip from one of my favorite (shamlessly romantic!) movies "Keeping the Faith"

LTF & TTFN!

After yesterdays 'blog n' chocolate' binge (yep, that's me, below), I'm going to sign off for a few days and get back to some painting and sketching.



















When I say get back to, it's because I haven't really done anything in that department for the best part of 8 years. YIKES! So, you see, it's been on my list for a long time!

I'm going to be exploring textures, and a still-life, and on paper. Very nice paper as a matter of fact! A year ago my father visited from the UK and bought me two pads of Langton NOT watercolor paper. And they've been whispering to me from a drawer ever since!

I want to share this beautiful written thought with you. It came to me in a message yesterday, from my new friend Mithun Jayaram. I don't think he'll mind that I'm publishing it here (???... if he does, I'll simply remove this part of the post!). What he says is very relevant... it's about creating art... it's about the shifts that occur within us... it's about inspiration... and, ultimately, it's about Life!

"i was once asked (a long time back.. during my early college years) what the role of an artist was..
i didn't know how to answer that..

i had just been exposed to all kinds of art that were not within the traditional confine of what art used to be... and i could find no apparent meaning in all the '-isms' i came across..

and i used to think art was just a means to express ones self..

sure, it can be a method/means to express self... but what i like is that strong ideas no matter whether it be art(in all forms), science, spirituality.. gets sieved...
and in the process of sieving..
there is a bouncing off that occurs
..
i liked many artists works.. or biology ideas, etc .. and it gets reflected in one way or the other through what i do.. (they've bounced off onto me)

now, you see what i have been doing and you get charged... ( i am bouncing onto you...)

which may give you space to take some ideas further.. which other people will like... (you've been bouncing on other people)

and they will do their thing.. bouncing off one another..

its like watching the micro-cosmos of atoms in action =)"

So, now it's my turn to bounce!

In preparation, I've spent the morning, with a spring in my step, taking snapshots with my lovely plum colored Nikon Coolpix S220 pocket camera (always have it handy!) and then, subsequently, I've created LTF. Light. Texture. Form. Think you're gonna like it! Hasta pronto!