Low Country Fall Color then and now: 11 '19

Willbrook Plantation Cypress 11 / 2019

I was looking at this photo, I took yesterday of the fall foliage colored cypress trees at Willbrook Plantation (see first attached photo. It reminds me of one of the first oil paintings I painted shortly after we moved here in 2006 (See 2nd attached photo). It was of cypress trees growing at the edge of one of Pawleys Plantation's ponds. I guess my aesthetic interests haven't changed all that much in 13 years.

Pawleys Plantation Cypress 2006

PI Christmas Selfies:12 '18

  No doubt you have heard the proverbial expression

'the best laid plans of mice and men .., which is used to signify the futility of making plans when the ability to execute them is beyond one's full control.

Once Again....the proverb holds true ...

 

Our plan was to take advantage of a brief break in the rain 

  and  take some selfies on Pawley's Island Beach

capped in our Santa Hats

 for posting  Christmas morning.

The wind was so strong and sand so biting,

 that we couldn't keep our eyes open,  

much less keep the Santa Caps on our heads.

LOL!  

Merry Christmas, everyone

PS  We still had a great time on our favorite beach.

Bell Rock Meadows. 7 '15

Bell Rock Meadow painting

 I just finished my latest masterpiece. It was painted in oils with a palette knife from a photo I took of the meadows adjoining the Bell Rock parking lot. I've attached both the photo and a photo of the painting so you can compare the two. 

 ( PS I will sign it once the painting has dried).

Photo of the actual Bell Rock  meadow

Searching for Cathedral Rock at Red Rock Crossing: 6 '15

 One of the most famous and  photographed red rock formations in Sedona is the  Cathedral at Red Rock Crossing. CC has  had her heart set on capturing at least one or two good photos of it before we left Sedona.  

The  ' borrowed' photograph above is representative  the favorite setting for photographing this  majestic setting. We downloaded this one off of the internet to show scene  we were looking for.   The problem is no one we talked to seemed to know exactly where these photos were taken or how to get to that place.  We could see the formation from highway 89 near our resort an surmised from the orientation it the photographs were taken some where along oak creek canyon near the base of the rock.  So in our spare time we started exploring the side roads in that direction.   Along the way we found some interesting vistas.

This is a late afternoon photograph of the Sedona Valley looking east from Red Rock Crossing  Road -  very close to Highway 89.

Above : Red Rock Crossing Road begins at Highway 89A  and heads eastward and downhill.  Eventually it turns into a graded dirt road, which wanders through some small family farms, until it dead ends at Oak Creek.  Below:  We found some rock carvings at the same place.  Petroglyphs???

Backtracking several miles we found the Cresent Moon Ranch Recreational Area which is under the Management of the USF Coconino National Forest Recreational Area. The sign at the entrance said that for a $10/day fee guests can can picnic at the adjacent day use area and fish, swim and wade in the crystal clear waters of Oak Creek or hike and photograph of the nearby formations.

 This is also the site of the one of the areas  original settlers' farm.

Below: the Restored Water Mill today sans water

CC knew she was getting close to her target when she spotted the oft photographed scene below,  ( It turns out the building is a cabin the forestry service will let you rent overnight.  Cool, right.)

We hurried on to the Creek before we lost the light.  Then, Eureka!  CC finally located the location she had been looking  for,   but  unfortunately she couldn't quite get the shot she wanted.

It turns out the 'classic' photograph is taken from a sandbar in the middle of Oak Creek where the creek forms a shallow swimming hole. In the heat of summer, the swimming  hole in the foreground is filled with day use visitors trying to cool off. Apparently the photographers either come when school is in session, or rent the cabin so they can stay after hours, or hop the gates after the recreational area closes  to get the photos.  They also use must use waders and tripods to keep themselves and  their equipment dry.  We didn't have those options open to us.  So we continued following the stream to see if there was another vantage point.

The shot above and below were taken upstream from the  swimming hole. Pretty sure they will do for reference photos, and CC can always use artistic license to paint shallow water and reflections in the foreground.

Mick Jagger — 'You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find, you get what you need.'

Sunrise at Airport Mesa Mini-Vortex: 6 15

Once again we were up before dawn to watch the sunrise, but this time we wanted to view it from a location which looked straight at the rising sun. We had learned on the jeep vortex tour of the previous day that the location of the airport vortex was a bit in dispute. Some believe that the center of the vortex is actually on a small mound just to the east of the airport mesa .  Other's believe there are two overlapping vortexes, one at the airport, one just to the east.  Both are known as a source of strengthening, masculine, energy which is attributed with helping visitors feel physically recharged, newly self-confident and more in touch with psychic abilities.

We had seen the mini vortex site, and its parking lot on the Tuesday's sunrise photo shoot, but it's small parking lot was already full by the time our large group arrived. Knowing that the road is  too narrow to park on the side of the road, and the parking lot can be packed, Bruce and I had a two plans.  Plan A was to leave the condo early enough to hopefully get into the mini-vortex parking and a secure a good place for photography atop the small formation. (Plan B was to leave fifteen minutes earlier than Plan A, which would give us enough to park at the top of the hill (at the airport where there is plenty of parking), and walk down the hill to the mini-vortex on the Airport Mesa trail. We departed early enough to execute Plan B, but fortune smiled on us this morning, and we secured the last remaining parking spot in the mini-vortex lot.

From the tiny parking lot on the south side of airport road, little could be seen.  A wildfire in Big Bear California had filled the skies with smoke. Sedona;s famous rock formations were barely visible through the haze.

 Undaunted, we started up the trail which spirals clockwise around the mound.  It is really more of a walk than a hike until you get close to the top of the formation.  Then it gets steep and slippe. (There are steel guard rails to hold onto on the steepest portions of the slope.)  

Initially, the eastern views were unimpressive.  Everything was hazy and the outline of many formations were lost in  the smoke from the wildfire

But as we stood there and watch the beginning glow of the rising sun grow, an sense of calm descended upon me.

And as the sky changed from pink to orange, I kept thinking about how 'other worldly' the scene before me was.

I doubt that either of us had any sensations of being " physically recharged, newly self-confident and more in touch with our psychic abilities" (unless Bruce's complaint about being cold counts), but this vortex site did bring me the some tranquility that I could really feel, while the others sites we had visited had been mute to me. 

Perhaps it is just that Vortexes also happen to be spots of immense natural beauty, which may help explain the energy surge people report when visiting the sites. The mini vortex on the Airport Road sits high on a ridge that overlooks Oak Creek Canyon and Schnebly Hills to the East and Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte to the SE.. It’s quite a mystical and magical place to experience a spectacular sunrise.

Painting the Town 6"15

Devil's Bridge in Boynton Canyon 

Much of our time for the past month has been spent working the house for us being gone  during the week we are tin Sedona.  You know,  all the usual preparation:  clearing out all the leftovers in the fridge, deep watering the plants, arranging for a cat sitter, rearranging the garage so we could get the car in it ...  work work work ... It's not the way to get excited about  an upcoming trip.

Trail to Bear Mountain 

I decided to build some enthusiasm by looking through some of the photos I took on  several different Sierra Club trips to the area.  It worked!  I started remembering all of the wonderful hikes we had taken in the area, and getting excited about revisiting those places, and finding new  ones.

Chimney Rock 

 Looking at the photos  I realized many of them would make great paintings, but I have never painted scenes from Sedona, or any of the Southwestern desert.  Painting this landscape would require, me to explore a whole new color palette. In all probability.  I won't have time to do any painting next week   while we are in Sedona,  so any landscapes  I paint of the Sedona area are likely to be based on my reference photos.  I decided to try painting  a few landscapes from my  favorite Sierra Club trip photos.  That way I will be familiar with the color scheme, and set to go when I returned home with a new set of photos.

Bell Rock

Above are some pics of the Sedona Series that I have been working on since the end of May.  Unfortunately I don't have time to  do a porter photo shoot, so the color is off, and they look a bit cartoonish due to the low resolution. They are much nicer in person.

For the paintings I have completed so far, I am using the old photos I took of the Sedona  area landmarks prior to 1995. It will be interesting to see what has changed in that time. I will add more paintings to the series from the new photos I take on this trip. Once  they are completed, I properly photograph  both these and the new paintings and repost them.

Night of a Thousand Candles 12' 14

Bruce and I made our now annual trip to   Brookgreen Gardens to attend their Night of a Thousand Candles Festival..  This is one of our favorite events of the holiday season and one we always look forward to attending..  

BJ  in the garden

For nine evenings in December all 500 acres of the garden are lighted by holiday displays and  remain open until 10 pm giving the public an opportunity to explore the gardens after dark.. 

CC with camera

For photographers, the event offers a rare opportunity to capture nocturnal views of  the garden's  grounds and the magnificent sculptures .   No matter how cold the weather, Bruce and I bundle up warmly enough to spend every minute we can  before the gates close on us.We come fully prepared with cameras, extra batteries, mono-pods, and spotlights.  About the only thing that can stop us is a rain heavy enough to damage our equipment and damp out the candles..  Unfortunately for the past couple of  years , this is exactly what has happened..  Rather than be rained out again, Brookgreen has changed the event's lighting from being 'The Night of a Thousand Candles' to what looked this year to be 'The Night of Ten Thousand LEDs' .  

The result were strikingly different in the kind of photographs one could capture.

2011 Candle it tree

For example compare the  photograph  above I took in 2011 of the candle lit Christmas tree

  with the blue mini-light trees that Bruce took at this years event.

2014 Blue mini-light trees

2011 photo of Sprites with floating candles and strobe backlighting

or the 2011 photo I took of the Sprites pond with the 2014 photo Bruce took of the

same sculpture pond

BJ's 2014 photo of sprites pond  with electric lights

2012 Tree Allee

Above is a photo I took in 2012  of the gardens  maganificent Tree Allee  and 

below is Bruce's photo of how it looked in 2014 with thousands of strands of mini-lights draping from every oak branch..

2014 Tree Allee

Personally I thought the number electric lights obscured the landscaping entirely ( as can be seen in several of the photos above)  

2012 Photo of a Heritage Tree

At best it made the landscaping play second fiddle to the lighting 

2014 Heritage Oak

That being said, the stronger lighting did provide some interesting opportunities to photograph the out of door sculpture collection. Check out the interesting effects we got from photographing the Sunflower Girl Sculpture in the  Children's Garden 

Lighted  from the front by a camera flash 

Lighted by a side strobe

Long exposure lighted by garden lights

Many of the other sculptures were equally interesting when seen by artificial light

Many of the other sculptures were equally interesting when seen by artificial light.

Snow Owl

For our part we both are hoping that the weather will eventually allow Brookgreen  to return to using more candles, but either way,  we will still  be attending the 2015 Festival.

Cypress Gardens 10 '11

This realistic looking demolished  chapel is a left over  film prop

Today we visited Cypress Gardens.  This well know tourist attraction has been featured in numerous national magazines, popular television shows and motion pictures.

BJ stands beside an artificial cypress movie prop

Many of the  props from the filming of the movie "the Patriot" were left behind  in the gardens, giving one the sense of having stepped back in time to the revolutionary war era.

More props left behind from films made here.

The Gardens feature a large Cypress Swamp which can be viewed  from the water by boat afoot on  well maintained hiking trails.

Guided boat and land tours are available, but we decided we would prefer to see the gardens at our own pace.

 Perhaps he just didn't trust my rowing ability, but BJ wanted to do the oaring. What every his reasons  I was grateful to have my hands free so I could take  reference photos.

There are beautiful reflections,

and interesting views everywhere we looked.

I got a little nervous when we noticed somethings that looked suspiciously like  alligators among some waterlilies.

Fortunately they were just a logs.

After touring the wetlands by boat, we decided to take one of the along 3.5 miles of walking/hiking paths which loop through the swamp and gardens. Stroll along original dikes from the rice-growing era, keeping an eye out for wildlife.

BJ enjoyed inspecting the rice which the Garden's Staff  has planted  in a manner similar to  the cultivation methods which would have been used on this land in Colonial times.

Next we visited the  Cypress Gardens 

"SWAMPARIUM"

Inside large tanks and terrariums feature fish, amphibians, and reptiles (including venomous snakes) native to South Carolina swamps and nearby waterways.

Just outside the Swamparium door is where Cypress Gardens  keeps it live  alligators.   Thank heavens, the beasts were safely contained behind steel bars; these guys are REALLY BIG.

After learning from those exhibits what is potentially lurking beneath the waters surface , I was not nearly as inclined as I usually would be to venture too close  the lotus pond.  This time I let my zoom lens do the work, and kept on moving toward The Butterfly House

This large greenhouse filled with flowering plants, live butterflies, birds, a pond, an arthropod exhibit, and a observation beehive.

I especially appreciated the Garden's focus upon native butterflies like the Zebra above

 and the Buckeye below

The Exhibit also show cased butterflies  that migrate through our area like Swallowtail and Monarchs

Cypress Gardens is located on Cypress Gardens Road,  which is close to the Goose Creek area. It is approximately 25 miles north of Charleston, SC.