Ring of Fire

 Song - Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash

 

 This morning on October 14th California witnessed a solar eclipse that lasted about an hour. I didn't go outside until the eclipse was underway so this was the first photo of the morning.  The bluish light is where the solar eclipse is happening.  The sun kept going behind clouds which was both a blessing and a curse.  

I had my little pin hole piece of cardboard which I couldn't use because of the cloud cover. But when I zoomed in on my distant photos.....

The good part about the cloud cover was that I was able to get some shots otherwise they would have been overexposed so close to the sun.

 

"Three things cannot be long hidden:

the sun, the moon, and the truth."

 

--Buddha

Luna

Song - Moon Shadow by Cat Stevens

So on Monday morning, I awoke early and got my solar eclipse supplies ready.....two pinhole cards, a cheese grater (because I read somewhere that multiple holes look really cool) and my ever ready camera.

But it was overcast and not expected to clear until noon - the eclipse was happening between 9:30-11am.  So I headed over to my mother's house and we sat on her back deck and waited.

And then we saw it between breaks in the clouds.....

We had fun waiting for the sun-moon to peek out from the clouds and it sure did.

Mr. B stopped by for awhile and tried to be my mom's eclipse glasses when it got bright. He is a conscientious son-in-law and loves mom.

Now my brother on the other hand headed up to Oregon and got to experience the total eclipse with his family.  He said it got very cool and the street lights came on. There was also the look of a 360 degree sunrise around them. Now they are stuck in traffic.....

"Yeah, we all shine on.  

Like the moon, and the stars, and the sun."

--John Lennon

Practicing

Song - I Live For the Sun by The Sunrays

In May of 2012 we had a partial eclipse and I remember how eerie everything looked outside.  Above is a photo of Mr. B with a pin hole piece of paper showing the crescent shape onto the deck railing.

I happened to have two pin holes and reflected them onto a garden sculpture of a bird.

 

Shadows were exaggerated. 

And the backyard had a very strange color along with extra long shadows.

So many of my friends and family are heading north to Oregon to experience the "total eclipse".  I hope it's amazing for them!!!

"Dear God, If you want us to 

impeach Trump, give us a sign.  

Like, blot out the sun...anytime in the next week.  

Thanks, Americans"  -- Pinterest

Sunday's Challenge

Peonies.

Song - Sous le ciel de Paris 

Who would ever think of Peonies as being a challenge?

Not me....but on Sunday they were a big painting challenge.

Thursday in my Painting Class, I did a rough painting sketch from the two photo's below.  I am painting them on two canvas's so that they can be hung together or separately - a diptych.

I love Peonies and when I was in Paris last Spring, there were a lot of window displays with beautiful Peonies.

I ducked my head into one little floral shop where a woman was arranging this incredible Peony and Snowball flower display and in my very broken French, I asked politely "Bonjour Madame, Je voudrais un photo, s'il vous plait?".....and pointed at my camera, just in case my accent threw her off!

She was very sweet and responded in lovely English (phew)...."Yes you may take as many photo's as you would like."

Isn't this incredible?  Just gorgeous!

So I wandered around her shop snapping up lovely little vignettes of beautiful arrangements.  But mostly I wanted shots of her glorious front window.

As I began to paint them today, I got so thrown off because there are so many of them and I wanted each petal perfect!

But that's not really how I want to paint them...... 

I want lines in there for exciting energy and yet I want them to be "loose" but yet still look like Peonies.

So I decided to "grid" them with Photoshop Elements.

Mr. B gave me a funny look and said "flowers don't need to be gridded....they are flowers!"

I actually think I just needed to take a break from feeling frustrated.

Of course, I have never gridded anything in PE, just on paper with a pencil & ruler.  Thank goodness for "Google" and in no time I had my photo's all gridded and ready to go.

New skill learned!

Then I figured that I would blog about my adventurous Sunday revolving around Peonies. I am sure this is actually some kind of "P.A.T." (painting avoidance technique) because as soon as I post this, it's time to water the garden and pour myself a glass of wine!  Tomorrow is a new day.....

Peonies in my garden this morning.

I'll share a photo of the painting with you when it is finished.

"Self esteem comes from being faced with a challenge, whatever it might be, and meeting it."  ~ Linda Fields  (Art teacher)

And guess what I discovered when I went into the garden at 6:30?

......there was a funny color in the atmosphere.....oh my....the eclipse was happening.....call Mr. B......poke a hole in a sheet of paper

Mr. B holding the paper with a pinhole and the partial eclipse shining on the deck railing.

.....grab the camera....do mom & dad know this is happening.....yep, they were right on top of it.....cool !  Kind of a weird cool feeling.  Great long shadows too!

 

Wonder how it makes the birds and animals of the earth feel.

A double pin hole eclipse on a bird statue

 “You can turn off the sun, but I'm still gonna shine.” - Jason Mraz