Agave Bloom Stalk - November, 2015 - March, 2016

The mystery of the Agave Bloom Stalk revealed.

Some of these photos have been posted both here

on the blog and on FB, but they tell 

the life-cycle of the Agave Bloom Stalk that began

last November and is nearly over.

The stalk, above, started growing in November and that's when

a decision was required. Do I allow the stalk to grow thereby cutting the

life of the agave short or do I cut the stalk off giving

 the agave a longer life?

Actually, it wasn't a difficult decision; the mother-ship has

4 offspring 2 of which are shown in the photo below. Choosing to watch

and document the bloom stalk turned out to captivate me longer than

I expected. I had no idea how many stages the bloom stalk goes through.

Below. While not the best photo it

shows how close to the bedroom window

the agave is. Every morning I've

been greeted with the progress.

When the bloom stalk started

growing the tip looked like

asparagus, at least to me.

As the stalk grew buds started

appearing. 

At first they were tight and

then they started unfurling.

It's difficult to isolate the 

bloom stalk enough to 

photograph it.

Close-up.

One bloom bursting open

and one in waiting.

Both blooms fully open.

Close-up of a bloom.

The bloom stalk grew right through the 

top of the pergola. 

A finch enjoying

the agave.

The many stages of blooming.

The bottom ones are dying, the middle

ones are in bloom and the top are 

about to burst open.

Even while dying the agave is 

beautiful.

The resident hummer enjoying

the blooms.

In flight! After a few years of attempting to capture

the hummer in flight I was finally successful!

What a gift the bloom stalk has been; no

regrets about allowing it to go 

through its natural life cycle. 

Note: I have read that cutting the 

stalk off doesn't prevent the

Agave from dying regardless

of what my maintenance

gardener has said. 

And one last photo, Digital Art piece that

started with an image of a woodpecker borrowed

from a friend, Christina. I know that I'll use

photos of the Agave Bloom Stalk in my art work

for years to come. 

I hope you've enjoyed the photos!

Happy Spring!

Wonderfulicious Wednesday - At the Living Desert

Finally a few cooler days! The Butterfly exhibit at The Living Desert 

beckoned to us. . ..  but little did I know that it's Spring Break! I don't do

well in crowds. 

It was worth the wait for my turn to photograph the bowl full of butterflies. 

What a feeding frenzy! I didn't want to be greedy, but I was able to get 7 photos.

The yellow butterfly was on the cement walkway, not

a very interesting background, thus a blended layer.

And sometimes a sky is too bland. 

This is the first time I've had success getting some photos of 

the Bighorn Sheep on the mountain. Usually, they're in

a ravine at the bottom of the mountain.

The Ocotillo were blooming and we know how much I love 

bloom stalks!

Wonderfulicious Wednesday - #naturechallenge

 A dear cyber friend and talented artist nominated me to join the 7-day FB #naturechallenge. I decided to take the challenge and add my own take on it and photograph daily gifts in my garden.

The pansies were placed on a rusted pan and photographed with the iPhone under florescent lights.

Day 2 is an Agave Bloom on the bloom stalk that I've had the joy of watching grow.

I've documented the journey from birth to full yellow blooms and plan to post the

photos soon.

Day 3. In just the right light the flowers on the succulents sparkle and seem 

to dance in delight. 

Day 4. At this time of year it seems that the entire area is bursting

with either pink oleanders or reddish bougainvillea. I chose red oleanders for

a hedge down one side of the house and Opal Bougainvillea to grow on

a pergola post. When the afternoon sun back-lit the above vine I knew just

how I wanted to alter the final image. 

Day 5. When I planted white bougainvillea vines

nine years ago I was told numerous times

that they wouldn't grow. The two vines full of white flowers

prove that it's worth it to try regardless of naysayers,  

Day 6. Saw a fern unfurling, chose the
macro lens . . . some color tweaking and ended up
with more of an abstract effect than I expected.

Day 7, macro.

 The saga of the grape vines. 

I'm always blown away when the birth of grapes

begin. Tiny.

We've only enjoyed bunches of

grapes the first couple of years and since

then the birds feast on them. Last year

mildew claimed them. This year the

bunches seem to be very prolific . . 

Time will tell what is in store for the vines. 

The resident Hummer enjoying the Agave Bloom. 

Thank you Shirley for encouraging me to post more often. 

Wonderfulicious Wednesday, 3 months later

I'm a bit surprised that it's been three months since I've posted anything . . . Health crap again! Three years after chemo and radiation I took a nose-dive  . . . and after taking control of my health things are slowly turning around.  Nuff said . .. Art does heal! I've returned to my love of altering photos and signed up for a course with Sebastian Michaels that has brought excitement back into my life. 

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Wonderfulicious Wednesday!

Flowers on a trailing succulent plant.

Elements: image of Blue Kino rock, Monarch butterflies, 

and a texture layer.

March is full of losses and has been since my dad passed away 16 years 

ago this month. A stillborn grandson, an ex, and my guy  have followed

over the years. . . and five years 

ago mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. 

Getting thru March is challenging but every March I seem to rally

and take on new projects; it's like I'm led into them. This year is no

exception so when a bunch of $1.49 daffodils nearly threw themselves

into the shopping cart I knew there was a reason. JOY! The color yellow

is so uplifting, begging to be photographed. And one

things leads to another.

I tend to create series of a subject.

The top one is the original.

Elements: three layers of texture and

text from a card my remaining sent

me on my dad's birthday, March 4th. 

Ever since my darkroom days back in the 80's of working

in Black and White I haven't been able to

leave a photo alone. I have no idea 

why I'm compelled to take an image 

and alter it but I'm

grateful for Apps and Photoshop.

This image is a combination of two images

and two texture layers. The Agave Stalk Bloom

is part of a series I will blog about soon, and

the butterfly was extracted from a busy

background. 

Tarquinia, Italy, 2009. A grab shot as we drove through

the village. At the time I knew the image would end

up altered in some way. 

Elements: A scan of an acrylic painting, image

of the Red Moon and a sunset photo from 

the patio.

And a photo taken from my bedroom window of a tree on the golf

course on the block behind me. Why? Trying out the 

zoom on the camera when I purchased it nearly 2 years ago. 

Challenge: experimenting with layers on a mundane photo. 

Elements: images of a sunset. the Red Moon and a texture layer.

"The art of healing comes from nature, not from the

physician. Therefore the physician must start

from nature with an open mind."

Paracelsus