Color Your World

by Leigh

My name is Leigh and I'm a coloraholic.  I need my color fix everyday just like I need my caffeine. Everyone's got a favorite color.  It's the one you find yourself photographing over and over again.  It draws you in every time.  You spot it and your eyes light up, your mood instantly lifts and a smile washes over your face.  Most of the time my go to color is green, but looking through my photos from the past couple of weeks I'm seeing a new trend.

My photos have been full of pinks, purples and blues.  I hadn't really planned for that to be my summer flower color palette….I guess subconsciously that was my plan all along!  

I could go into various aspects of color theory, but it's difficult to summarize in a blog post.  Color combinations create a visual harmony.  Harmony is defined as a pleasing arrangements of parts, whether it be music, poetry or color.  In visual experiences, harmony is something pleasing to the eye.  "It engages the viewer and creates an inner sense of order, a balance in the visual experience."  At one end of the spectrum, when something is not harmonious it appears boring or so bland that the viewer is not engaged.  At the other extreme is a visual experience so chaotic and overdone that it overstimulates the brain.  The viewer can't stand to look at it…almost as though our brain rejects what it cannot organize or understand.  Color harmony creates not only a sense of order, but there is an ease to it that engages us and makes the viewer want to look at it longer.  "Harmony is a dynamic equilibrium."

What color combinations create that harmony for you? 

Music of the earth . . .

by Kim

"Flowers are the music of the ground
from earth's lips spoken without sound."
- Edwin Curran

A seed is planted, it sprouts, and a plant is born.

It continues to grow with the nurturing help of the sun and water and the nutrients in the soil. Stems will rise above leaves and the roots will reach further into the soil.  And as it continues to grow, a tiny bud will begin to form. The bud will continue growing until it matures enough to start opening. And as it begins the process of opening, petal by petal, its personality will finally be revealed. But at some point, it will lose its luster and the petals will fall.

A flower is born, a flower dies.

We, are like flowers. Each one of us a different color, shape and size. Some are playful, or mysterious, and while some are bold, others tend to be soft, like a whisper. We are all beautiful in our own right, but unfortunately some will go unnoticed altogether.

We, are like flowers. Except that we don't judge flowers. We accept them just the way they are, flaws and all. Although we don't call them flaws, we call it character.

We too, are like the flowers . . . we too are the music of the earth.

And each one of us holds the same importance in regards to making that beautiful music. We need to be careful though, that we don't make the same mistake as Pythagoras by discarding the fifth hammer. Because it is almost always the ones we least expect that are responsible for the harmony. They are the secret to the entire sound of the music precisely because they aren't perfect.

A seed is planted, it spouts, and a plant is born. With a few essentials, we all have the possibility of blooming, and we should remember that it takes all of us to make harmony possible.

Here's to a musical day,

Kim xo

Trust the process...

by Kim

"The poetry of the earth is never dead."

- John Keats

No, the poetry of the earth is never dead, but sometimes it may appear that way. Sometimes it just mimics a dead leaf that just hasn't dropped from the clutches of a branch.

But then, if you pay really close attention to the subtle details you realize there is so much to hear. So much that exists well beyond what we consider to be silence.

Because beyond that silence, beyond what we can see with our eyes, things are happening. A million beautiful things are going on around us. . . moment by precious moment.

Under all the layers, that stretch far outside the limits of our busy lives.

Beyond comprehension really. Awe inspiring, mind blowing stuff.

And the more time I spend observing, and not just being in it but living with it, the more balanced and at peace I become.

I know it sounds so cliche, but nature continues to be that place, that for me, is so miraculous just in the confines of how intricately it all works together, how connected it is to itself. A place of complete awe and wonder even if it's experiencing a butterfly emerge for literally over the 1000th time!

A place where life happens even when it appears there is none....and yet still teaches me to trust the process.

"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
  There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
  There is a society, where none intrudes,
  By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
  I love not man the less, but Nature more."
  - George Gordon

{This is a polydamas swallowtail that has been over wintering inside my house since late last August and just emerged a week ago. We can trust that Mother Nature knows her business, and this is indeed a sign that spring is arriving. You can see a video of this one emerging from its long winters nap on instagram - kimatpickingpoppies - I had trouble getting it to focus at a nano-seconds notice and as it goes with nature there are no re-takes}

Have a great day,
Kim