Four Paintings – 2012-08-05

One – Crayon Box

Two – Bulls Eye

Three – Poinsettia

Four —  Double Rainbow

Three of these four paintings were done this year 2012. The Crayon Box is whimsical and can be used in a childs room. The Bulls Eye was done several years ago when I was trying to learn how to make circles also at the time my son and granddaughters were taking archery and it was fitting.

The Poinsettia was done this June it is a close up and it is one of my favorites I did put sparkles on it to dress it up. The Double Rainbow was done this May and I wanted a double rainbow but not done in the traditional way. This is a new slant on an old standard.

Painting relaxes me and it gets some of my pent-up anxieties and creativity out into the open. I will be showing my work at the Hampton Library in October of this year and I am excited to see what others have to say about my work.

Four Paintings by Mary Louise Marion

#1 Fireworks 16 x 20 Canvas Acrylic Paint

#2 Garden Scene or Spirit Hand 16 x 20 Canvas Acrylic Paint

#3 Colorful Geometrics 16 x 20 Canvas Acrylic Paint

#4 Fall Leaves 16 x 20 Canvas Acrylic Paint

#1 was painted in 2005. The rest was done this year. I took painting classes and some art classes at the NH Institute of Art in Manchester NH 1999 through 2003. I got my Certificate of Photography from the NH Institute of Art.

I will be having a showing of my Black and White Photography and my painting at the Hampton Lane Memorial Library in October 2012. I will be posting 4 paintings a week for the next few weeks. Some are abstract others are realistic and still others are just what I see in my head. I enjoy painting and it has helped me relax during the past two very stressful years.

Bryce Canyon – 2

Bryce Canyon is in southern Utah. Because Zion National park is better known Bryce Canyon gets fewer visitors a year. This canyon is shaped like an amphitheatre rather than a traditional canyon. The elevation of this canyon is between 8,000 and 9,000 feet. This canyon does see all four seasons with temperatures of 9 degrees in the winter and over 90 degrees in the summer. May and June are good months to visit the canyon because it is not too hot. Another good time to visit the canyon is September and October. There are very few visitors to the canyon during the three winter months of December, January and February.

The picture on the left is of a Natural Arch. The color was spectacular! the deeper orange of the arch complimented the lighter orange and yellow rock formations near by. This arch was formed over thousands of years by wind, rain, ice and erosion. Even a sculptor could have made this arch as lovely as it is. It is hidden as you walk one of the trails in the canyon until you come around a slight bend in the trail and then POW there it is!.

The second picture the one on the right is what I call the Olympic Flame. Again Mother Nature carved this out of rock over many thousands of years. I love this formation because the moment you see it, it takes you to the Olympics past seeing the flame light the way for all the athletes that come to test their abilities against others in the world.

Bryce Canyon has so many different rock formations and I took ten or twelve rolls of film while there in May of 2001. The canyon is truly a photographers dream. If you ever get the chance to visit southern Utah be sure to go to Bryce Canyon and be in awe of its beauty.

Bryce Canyon – 1

Bryce Canyon, Utah the year was 2001 May. This canyon is beautiful beyond words. Looking out over the Hoodoos the picture on the left. Beyond that is more of Utah but in some ways it looks like the ocean. Blue with white caps. The sky in Utah as well as Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico is a more beautiful blue than here in New england. My most wonderful husband says that is because of the elevation. Being closer up makes it clearer.

The picture on the right the rock formations look like a castle. Again the distance is mountains and sky. My sister and I spent 3 days exploring the canyon and I took many rolls of film all at different angles and using different focal lengths of my lens. I did one roll of Black and white also that came out quite nicely. The black and while pictures reminds me of Ansel Adams work. He is a photographer that I have always admired for his black and white renditions of nature.

Formal Garden New Bern, NC

This photo was taken at the Tryon Palace in New Bern, NC in September 2008. This is an English type of formal garden, made by the governor who ran NC in the 1700’s had the garden planted and it has been cared for by the Historical society since the Revolutionary War first by the Governor who used the palace as their place of residence then in the 1900’s by the Historic Society of New Bern, NC.

English Formal Gardens are done in a rectilinear design which are found at many stately homes in England.  The simplest formal gardens were box-trimmed hedges that lined or enclosed carefully laid out flower gardens of simple geometric shapes. The more elegant gardens include statuary and fountains which this garden at the Tryon Palace do as can be seen with the statuary on the outer edges of the garden and the fountain in the middle.

I have always loved taking photographs of nicely laid out gardens and any time I go to a southern plantation and see their well laid out gardens I make sure to take pictures. The gardens here in NH like the Prescott Park in Portsmouth, NH is not a formal garden but every year the Portsmouth Garden club plants a beautiful garden of many dozens of flower varieties. This garden gives hundreds of visitors many hours of beauty from Spring into winter.

The Prescott Garden also has a stage and many concerts are held there. i will post a picture of that garden next week so you can see the many beautiful flowers that are planted there. It is not a formal garden and is called simply a flower garden.

Enjoy this photo of the English Formal Garden and imagine yourself walking through it. I pretended I was in England at a lovely estate and took the time to look at all the trimmed hedges. I looked at each statue, stopped to admire the fountains, there are three. I also stopped at the gazebo and sat on the bench and enjoyed the beauty. I also toured the flower gardens that went with this formal garden. There is also an acre of well cut grass that was lovely and green going to the river from the formal garden.

 

 

Seven Falls – Manitou Springs, Colorado

The Seven falls in Manitou Springs, Colorado are one of the most beautiful  spots in Colorado. As a child living in Colorado Springs, Colorado at Christmas my father took us to the Falls. It was lovely. Colored lights up lighting the falls which were frozen over. There are 224 steps up the stair case from the base to the top. It is a very steep climb. As a child I had no problems doing it but in 2001 in my late 50’s I could not do the steps so I took the elevator to the top. That elevator was not there in the 1950’s.

The Falls are 181 feet high from the base to the top which had a platform that I stood on as a child. In 2001 that platform was no longer there in its place was a gift shop accessed to by the elevator from the bottom of the falls. I did take several pictures from the roof top of the platform of the surrounding areas.

This picture was taken in 2001 standing across from the falls on a platform used just for taking pictures of the falls. I got all seven of the falls in the shot along with the base which is now used to display Native American artifacts. My picture is very much like the one on the post card that can be bought in the gift shop. I was very pleased with this photo. It came out exactly as I saw it through the lens of my Nikon N90 camera. Today I do not remember the focal length of the lens but I did take several at different focal lengths. This one is the best and the one I am most happy with.

Beautiful Flower

Nature is so beautiful. This photo was taken 3 or 4 years ago on one of my fall walks.  It was taken with my Nikon N90 with the 35 to 85mm lens on film. I did not have my Nikon small digital camera then. I sometimes miss the different perspective I get from my lenses. The Coolpix has small focal length lens built into the camera but it is not the same. The small camera is more readily available and easier to carry so I can tak longer walks and I can take more pictures and delete those that I don’t like or don’t think are good enough. BUT when they are deleted that is it that perspective is gone forever so I seldom delete and have hundreds of probably poor images taking up computer space.

I am so thankful for the beautiful nature God has provided for us. Now that Spring is here it is wonderful to go for a walk and look at the trees and see the buds starting to turn into green that will become leaves soon. This year because of the strange and warm winter we have had the plants are flowering earlier. This morning I notices many Forsythia’s in full bloom. Their cheerful yellow blooms brought a real smile to my face. If it had been a sunny day I would have taken many pictures. So tomorrow when the sun is out that is what I will be doing.

I love taking long walks and taking lots of photographs of all plants, trees, rocks, ponds, streams, sky and clouds. I am always excited to turn a corner and see a beautiful flower like the one above. Walking in Nature makes me calm, fills me with happiness and gives me inner strength to go through a stressful day. Nature can take our breath away. Like walking along the beach seeing how the sun glances off the ocean and how it sparkles. Or taking a walk along a garden path and seeing all the different plants and how they bloom differently. All the different subtle shades in each flower. Look at the flower above there are eight different shades of pink and purple in that one bloom. That is amazing to me.

Be sure to take a walk and look at a tree this week then go again in a few days and be amazed at how many of the buds have grown and are starting to open. I am going to pick a tree and follow it budding progression for the next six weeks. I know just the four trees I want to do that for. I will share the photos here on this blog site so keep watching. Be sure to get outside and walk let nature calm your inner self look for the beauty and when you see it take it inside of yourself with your inner eye and in times of stress close your eyes and remember that moment and you can calm yourself with that wonderful memory.

 

Reflections

Reflections. This photograph shows to me a perfect reflection the bottom is the same as the top.  I enjoy taking pictures of water with reflections. When I take the picture I don’t think too much about it at that time but when I go home and look at the photographs on the computer that is when I reflect on the image of each one.

This one is very appealing to me. It was a clear hot day in July 2010. I was in Londonderry, NH taking a walk. I stopped and looked through the lens of my camera and saw this scene. Snap the picture was taken. Now almost two years later I have a chance to really look at it, appreciate it, and enjoy it to its fullest.

The fact that I got it right with the bottom a mirror image of the landscape on the top is a joy to me. I have taken many reflection water pictures over the years all of them tell a story. This one tells about the lush green of the earth along with the lavender grows along the shore line.

The water is clear and no ripples which shows that on that day there was little wind. I remember the day it was the week before we moved her to Hampton Beach, NH. I wanted to take pictures of different areas of Derry and Londonderry before I left that area.

This is a pond that can be seen from the parking lot at Crackerbarrell. Not a scene people take time to look at since they are usually in the parking lot to go to the restaurant and don’t take time to look around at the beauty that is around them.

Next time you are in a parking lot anywhere take a minute to look around and see what is there you might be surprised and find a lovely view like I did.

Power of the Ocean

On a beautiful clear day walking along the Atlantic Ocean at Hampton Beach, NH watching the waves roll in and out was amazing. The strength of the ocean bringing in not only the water but the bottom or floor of the ocean came in with each wave.

There was dirt, rocks, shells, debris from who know where. At one point there was a broken and twisted lobster trap, next to that lengths of rope, along with broken shells of all kinds all brought in with a roll of a wave. The next wave brought in two large tree branches. Where did they come from? How long had they been in the ocean waiting to hit land again? Would someone pick up those branches tomorrow and make something out of them like a table or lamp?

The Wind was blowing and the waves were rolling in and out. I stood and watch for several minutes. It made me feel small but special at the same time. I was watching an amazing act of nature. 

I was glad to be standing there watching the ocean and thinking at the same time that someone else on the other side of the earth was standing and watching the same ocean coming and going in and out. I thought about that other person, what where they thinking? Were they standing in awe as I was by the power of this ocean? Did they get debris like we did here in New Hampshire? Was it a beautiful clear day on the other side of the earth?

Were the colors I was seeing, three shades of blue, green, brown the same colors they were seeing?  Did the foam of their waves look as crisp to them as it did to me? Did they see four waves in a row and did they get the same photograph I did?

Every day I try to take a walk on the beach and watch the Atlantic Ocean. It is always beautiful no matter what the weather is. Gray, cloudy, sunny, windy, cold, or hot it makes no difference the waves come in and roll out always bring in a different treasure for someone to find.

I look for Sand Dollars and shells. I paint sea scenes inside the shells and give them as gifts. I save the Sand Dollars and will give one to each of my grandchildren and great-grand-children. That way they will have something from me and the ocean.

If you get the chance to walk along the Atlantic Ocean take a few minutes to stand still watch and listen to the power of the ocean. It will amaze you and make you wonder about other beautiful parts of our land. Take photographs so when you look back you can see all the colors and the moods of the ocean. I have taken hundreds of photographs of this particular beach and every one is different and each one is beautiful.

Maybe I will publish a book with just pictures from Hampton Beach, NH so everyone can see the beauty of our spot at the Atlantic ocean.

The Canadian Rockies

The Canadian Rockies as seen through the window of a plane June 19, 2004.

In June of 2004 I went to Alaska and flew out from Boston, MA to Vancouver, Canada. The flight took us over the Canadian Rockies. They were beautiful all capped with snow and they must have been tall because from the window it seemed like we could almost touch them and we were 42 thousand feet up.

I was amazed at how close they looked. I took a total of 4 pictures and noticed rivers and flat land but all of the pictures have the mountains in them.

I have always been amazed at how much beauty God has given us to see no matter where we go or how we get there. He first made the land, then divided it into sections with the oceans and then put the mountains in. How did He know where to put the mountains? Why did He put the rivers where they are? As for the rest of the land why is it not totally flat?

These are questions I plan to ask Him when I get to heaven. I am sure He will laugh but He will tell me how the plan came together because He loves me. I am so thankful for His Love and the beauty of the land whether it be the ocean, the mountains or flat land in Kansas all of it is beautiful.

I am a nature photographer taking pictures of all the beauty we have to enjoy. My photography teacher said I took more pictures than any one else in the class. That is because I took the picture from every angle I could think of. Different focal lengths and vertical as well as horizontal. On the trip in 2001 I took 50 rolls of film all had 26 pictures on them. In Alaska I took 45 rolls of film 10 rolls were 36 exposure so I took more pictures that were probably necessary, BUT, like my teacher said taking more pictures ensures that at least a few of them will be worthy of hanging in a gallery some day.

 

The Big Green

The Big Green also known as the Colorado River.

This picture was taken in May 2001. I was at the Grand Canyon looking down and saw the green ribbon. I asked our guide what it was and he said “The Big Green”, which is the Colorado River.

I knew that the Colorado River is the  main river going through the Grand Canyon but I did not know it was also called “The Big Green”. But seeing the river from the top of the canyon looking down that is exactly what it is. Green!

Nature is an amazing thing. Rivers make canyons, gulches, and divide land in many different ways. This river “The Colorado River” is probably best known for its path through the Grand Canyon but did you know it is 1,450 miles long? Did you know it is in parts of seven states and into Mexico? I did not know that until I went to the Grand Canyon then came home and did some research on it. The water shed of this river covers 246,000 square miles!

More than 20 dams have been built on the Colorado River and its tributaries. The Colorado River rises on the Continental Divide at La Pourde Pass in the Rocky Mountain National Park. At the rivers headwater the Continental Divide forms the boundary between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean.

A mile downstream from its source, the Colorado River carved its first canyon Little Yellowstone Canyon. So this Big and Powerful river has created more than one canyon. It is also used to keep crops in several states surviving. This river is very large, and important. We all know how important the Mississippi River is, well this river seems to be just as important. I learned that unless we look to study something we really know nothing about it. The Colorado river “The Big Green” is one of the more important rivers in the United States but even in schools we don’t learn about its importance.

Go to one of your search engines and find out which states this river helps take time to enjoy learning about something you never thought about before.

Sedona AZ

The Chapel in Red Rock at Sedona, AZ

Sedona, AZ is one of the most beautiful places here in our country. The Red Rock is all around. There are many famous rocks in this place. Bell Rock, Snoopy Rock, Two Sisters Rock and the Chapel in the Rock just to name a few. All are red. This is known as Red Rock Country. 

While there in 2001 I took the tour of all the famous Red Rocks and on the tour it was explained how the rocks became Red. They are rocks with Iron in them and the weather makes them rust. The red is the rust  from the iron in the rocks.

God touched these rocks with iron so they could become beautiful for all of us to enjoy.

The Chapel itself is very beautiful. It was built in the 1950’s. Completted in 1956. Though it is Catholic in faith, as a work of art the chapel has appeal to all religions and is open to every faith. It is called the Chapel of The Holy Cross. But it is known as the Red Rock Chapel. Many people renew their vows to each other in this chapel. There are no services held in the church but it is open every day from 9AM to 5PM sp that everyone can enjoy the peacefulness it holds for all time.

Standing outside at the bottom looking up at it makes one think it was placed there by someone. I never thought about all the planning, architects, workers, and time it took to make this beautiful structure. As I walked towards it and up the hill to it I was always looking towards it. I tried to not look away from it because of its beauty.

Inside was another story all together. It had a feeling of spirituality, calmness, and peace. I sat and felt peace all around me. It was like being in another world. Stepping outside after sitting for a few minutes it was truly like going into a whirlwind of noise and people. Inside was quiet and calm outside, sunshine, blue skies, light wind and people all talking and making noise.

If you ever get to Sedona AZ be sure to go to the Red Rock Chapel and go inside and sit for just a few minutes. It will give you a sense of peace and hopefully like it did for me a reason to go on living the good life of helping others find peace.

The trip in 2001 was truly one of the highlights of my life. I got to see four beautiful states. I took over 6000 photos of beautiful country and fell in love with the mid west. I want to go back and see it again and this time take my most wonderful husband so he can see the colors with his own eyes not just through my photography.

Top of Pikes Peak

Standing 14,100 feet up on top of the world is AWESOME!

In 2001 I went to Colorado with my sister it was her 60th birthday and we did four states in 3 weeks. We went to Colorado to visit our old home site in Colorado Springs. We got to go back to the house of her teens my pre-teens, we visited our schools, the park and playground we went to every day of the summers, and the city to shop.  It was a trip of going back in time for us.

While in the Girl Scouts at ages 11 through 13 we did a lot of camping. We stayed at The Garden Of The Gods, climbed Pikes Peak, and learned a lot about that beautiful state. During our years there we also learned to ride horses correctly.

In 2001 I wanted to go back up to the top of Pikes Peak to see if it was like I remembered. It was! This time we did not climb it we took the train up. I got out of the train and saw that we were AT THE END OF THE LINE! What a site! Looking out you can see all of Colorado Springs and Prospect Lake. The lake was one of our favorite places while living there to go specially in the summer.

This photograph won me an award from Kodak in the 2002 photo contest. While taking my photography classes at NH Institute of Art I printed it darker and displayed it in the hall at the school during open house. It got a lot of good comments.

But back to being On Top of The World. . . Unless you have been at the top of any mountain it is hard to describe, but, standing and looking out at all the beauty around me and below me made me feel totally different.  I was amazed by the beauty of our world. I felt very small and insignificant and wondered what difference I had made, or would make during my time here on this earth. So many thoughts went through my head that it took me a half hour that evening to write them down in my journal.  I felt so ALIVE! I felt VIBRANT! It was EXHILARATING!.  It affirmed to me that EVERYONE is important. Everyone has a purpose and reason to be here on this earth at this time. Now I have not expressed this in over ten years because it takes me longer than others to process some things.

Now is the time for EVERYONE to decide what they want to do with their life, how they want to do it and then get down and DO IT! Your purpose is not the same as mine. My purpose or at least one of my purposes is to teach others about the beauty of the world through my photography. Another purpose of mine is to motivate others to love themselves and help others live a better life.

My most wonderful husband and I have started writing this past year. Both of us had a desire to put pen to paper, or at least set in front of a computer and type words that would make people want to read our story. So now we are learning the ins and outs of writing not only for ourselves like I do in a journal, but for others. We are learning that it takes dedication, determination, and hard work. Thinking outside the box. For me that is sometimes hard other times it just comes. I wrote through NaNoWriMo in November and finished the required 50 thousand words in 30 days. That turned into a book that has been edited three times now. The cover for the book has been chosen and now we are learning about Self Publishing. Another learning curve that we are struggling with but it is coming along nicely.

If you are ever in Colorado Springs, CO be sure to take the train to the top of pikes Peak and look out on the world and let the feeling over take you. Be sure to write down about the experience. I promise it will enrich your life forever.

Hoodoos In Bryce Canyon Utah

On a trip in 2001 my sister and I did Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. It was her 60th birthday trip. This picture is from Bryce Canyon in Utah. It is the HOODOOS. The indians said it was the silent people standing and guarding the canyon.  It was an amazing trip but to look back at the pictures ten years later I am still amazed at the beauty of nature and our country. I love to travel and have had the opportunity to see many of the 48 lower states as they are called. All are beautiful and all have spots that are breath-taking. BUT, when you are in this canyon and see this site in my opinion there is no doubt that there is a God who loves us so much that He gives us beauty all around us.

The colors of the Midwest are wonderful. They change every hour of the day with the moving of the sun. This canyon is Red, Orange, Gold, an all the other shades of Orange and Yellow. My sister and I went and spent hours at this canyon I took about 30 rolls of film just of this canyon. Yes I have a LOT of pictures of our trip and each one shows a different view and different colors. I am blessed with a good memory and when I look at any picture of this trip, I can still remember exactly what my sister and I were wearing on that day, what some of our conversations were and how I felt just being in this beauty and having my camera with me to record it.

In a couple of days I will post a picture from the Grand Canyon and you will see the difference of colors there they were dusty rose, violet, lavender, green, and glorious. I have a picture of the Colorado River that runs through the canyon and it is so green. Our guid said the river used to be called The Big Green River and when you see that picture you know why.

Why am I reminiscing about this trip now?  Well I was just looking at some of my pictures and remembering what seemed to be a better time. But was it really a better time? No because three months later we were attacked by terrorists in this country and that is when things started to fall apart. At least it seems that way to me. After this attack even though we got closer as a country for a while within three years people started acting like that act of terrorism never happened. Our economy started to take a nose dive, people became more violent, there were more crimes committed, more people being ignored, more people going hungry right here in the United States of America. No one in power seemed to notice or care, they kept sending help to other countries giving our resources away. Now here we are ten years later with millions of people out of work, more homes being foreclosed and taken away, more crime on the streets, more hunger, more children being abandoned and left on their own to fight the world. Who cares? Does anyone care?

God, cares yes He does. We as a nation need to get back to the basics of faith, love, and understanding. We need to help each other in THIS country first. Lets take care of ourselves and after we are back on firm ground then expand and help other countries. But we really need to take care of US first. We need to get our economy back to the position of strength, we need to get our people back to work making the items we need for ourselves. We need to stop buying items we can make from foreign countries. We need to use our coal, oil, water, and land to sustain ourselves NOW.

 We need to pay our workers a decent wage so they are able to support their families like it used to be. We need to help our poor right here in THIS country. God has called each of us to take care of each other. Faith, Hope and Love those are things we all know about and remember LOVE is the greatest of these. So lets start loving each other again, lets build our country back the way it was. We can do this. We need to do this. Lets pull ourselves up by the boot straps as they used to say and start all over again. Who is with me? I will be interested in knowing who thinks we can get back this wonderful country the way it was. I will let you all know the next time I write if anyone is interested in living the life we had instead of the life we are told we have to live now.

RAINBOWS

RAINBOWS

Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.  Colors of the Rainbow. These are primary colors as everyone knows. When they are on a wall from the sun shining through a crystal  it makes a home cheery and colorful.

Painting a Rainbow makes me happy and I did some painting this weekend and put Rainbows on several sea shells.

Rainbows can be seen here at the ocean several times a week if one is careful to look out over the water at just the right time. The sun shining off the water sends up the colors to brighten a day and in my case, me!

Rainbows are a promise from God that he will never destroy the world again by flood. that is also a primary lesson learned in Bible school.

Primary colors, Primary lessons all good things to know. Starting with the Rainbow it is time to learn more Primary lessons so that a happier life can be had by all.

 

 

Crunchy Snow

Crunch

Cold Crunchy Snow

Follow the path

Go with the flow

Crunch . . . Crunch

Crisp, cold clouds of breath

Nearer to The End

The End is the Sea

Crunching through the snow

At The End blue as far as the eye can see

Dark, light, medium, All blue

Silent except for the crunch

of each step in the snow

Take it all in

Don’t let it go.

Crunch. . . Crunch

Made it to The End