I always have a way of finding serenity when I’m in a kayak.
Majestic mountains can surround you in a gentle hug.
You can pause and reflect on your life.
Finding serenity in a kayak: LAPC
lens-artists
Unique Sights-High & Low: LAPC
The Lens-Artists photo challenge today is “unique.” I thought of several unique sights I’ve seen in Oregon that fit this category.
Our guide in Harney County referred to this ancient petroglyph as the Super 8. Do you see a resemblance to an old movie camera? Petroglyphs are carved into stone while pictographs are painted onto stone.
I saw these hairy clematis flowers at the Hell’s Canyon Overlook earlier this month. This unusual flower has a lot of common names including lion’s beard, leather flower, vase flower, and sugar bowl. They look similar to prairie smoke flowers featured in a previous post.
I can’t help but think of the words “unique sights” when I recall this toad I found in my high desert yard. I thought it was so interesting that I wrote a short story about it called The Toad Queen.
Continue readingPining for Ponderosa Pine: LAPC
Ponderosa pine is a tree for the senses. These trees can grow as tall as 268 feet. Their bark turns an interesting shade of orange-red as they mature.
The branches twist and contort into interesting shapes as the tree ages.
The furrowed bark has been described as smelling like vanilla, butterscotch, or cinnamon. The bark looks like jigsaw puzzle pieces.
I love taking pictures of bark! See Silent Barks for a few more of my photos.
Favorite Rocks in Oregon: LAPC
Oregon rocks come in a wide variety of shapes and colors. Here are a few of my favorite rocks.
Craggy cliffs circling wonder
Sculptures shaped by the sea
Wild Oregon-Steens to the Sea: LAPC
There are many wild Oregon places and this post highlights just a few of them. The ever changing skies can make familiar landscapes look completely different. Here are some portraits of Oregon’s wild places.
Oregon is an inspiration. Whether you come to it, or are born to it, you become entranced by our state’s beauty, the opportunity she affords, and the independent spirit of her citizens.
Tom McCall, former governor of Oregon
Yellowstone Elements: LAPC
The Lens-Artists Photo Challenge this week is the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Here are pictures that feature several of the elements that I took at Yellowstone National Park.
Delicate Beauties: Friday Flowers & LAPC
I don’t see the desert as barren at all; I see it as full and ripe. It doesn’t need to be flattered with rain. It certainly needs rain, but it does with what it has, and creates amazing beauty.
Joy Harjo
Here are a few delicate beauties growing in the High Desert near Bend, Oregon. Enjoy their rainbow colors and gentle grace.
Stairway of Art: LAPC
The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps – we must step up the stairs.
Vance Havner
This stairway of art in the Old Mill district of Bend invites you to hear its story. The garbage can and utility box are supporting cast members in this tale.
This work is by Yuya Negishi. I show another of his pieces and tell a bit more about him in Big Bold Art in Bend.
Here is a short video showing Yuya creating this stairway of art.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Street Art
Harmony in Nature: Songsters of Spring
“I’d rather learn from one bird how to sing than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance.” e.e. cummings
At this time of the year, I often think of harmony in nature. Every time I go outside, I hear the songsters of spring. Here are a few local songsters whose voices and plumage are full of gold.
Click on the word “song” in the caption below each photograph to hear the harmony in nature these birds share with us.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Harmony
Showing less can reveal more: LAPC
When focusing on only parts of a scene, showing less can reveal more.
This fox didn’t pause to smile for the camera, but this image of her running across a sun-dappled meadow captured her spirit.
This image doesn’t include any wildlife or colorful flowers but it conveys peace.
Continue readingWords into Art-Temperance Creek: LAPC
Words into Art
My friend asked me to go hear author Pamela Royes talk about her book Temperance Creek: A Memoir at a quilt shop. At a quilt shop? I thought. I didn’t know that QuiltWorks had a “Books to Quilts” program.
Pamela spoke about her book and showed slides of where she lives in the rugged country near Hells Canyon in northeastern Oregon. A chance encounter with Skip Royes led her into living the life of a wandering shepherder. She and Skip spent four years on a life-changing journey in the wilderness. Pamela transforms from a carefree hippie into a responsible woman who learns to appreciate the wildness of her new home. She also learns of the culture of the Nez Perce, who first occupied this land.
Her lyrical prose helps paint pictures in your mind of her adventures and the surrounding country. Quilters made the “words into art” and they displayed their work in this shop. Pamela became emotional as she described her appreciation for the quilts depicting her words. These creative works meant more to her than any trophy.
Continue readingA different world-Utah rocks: LAPC
You live in the image you have of the world. Every one of us lives in a different world, with different space and different time.
Alejandro Jodorowsky
The geology of Utah is so unique and interesting. I imagined many details of alternate worlds while visiting there.
The formations at Capitol Reef form thrones ready for giant-sized royalty.
The mountains of Zion National Park look as though they have been compressed, kneaded, and scratched by the claws of big cats
Continue readingRiver Ranch Barn – Seasoned by the Seasons: LAPC
The River Ranch Barn at Summer Lake Wildlife Area in eastern Oregon is weathered to perfection. Here are a few pictures of its exterior from a distance and close up. Winter Ridge rises majestically behind the barn.
Indoors at Fort Rock: LAPC
I’ve featured several outdoor photos taken in and around Fort Rock, but now you’ll get glimpses indoors at the Fort Rock Valley Homestead Museum. Many of these historical buildings were moved here from nearby. The homes and businesses are furnished as they would have been in the early 1900s. This is a place where history truly comes alive.
A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.
Marcus Garvey
Winter Walks in Bend: LAPC
Winter is a special time of the year here in Bend. Winter walks around the neighborhood are highlighted with landscapes covered in snow and ice.
He who marvels at the beauty of the world in summer will find equal cause for wonder and admiration in winter.
John Burroughs
Buildings are blanketed with snow and edged with icicles.
Twisting trails are carved through snowdrifts.
Continue readingFinding a new world in close-ups: LAPC
When I last visited Yellowstone, I was searching for a new world to inspire me in my fiction writing. Here are some that I found…
A new world of waves and wonder
A world of contrasting colors
A world of muted rainbows
Continue readingLove nature and share the love: LAPC
Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.
Frank Lloyd Wright
Here are a few pictures of wild things resting, feeding, and breeding. They are always reminding me to love nature and share that love with others.
There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls.
George Carlin
Being born in a duck yard does not matter, if only you are hatched from a swan’s egg.
Hans Christian Andersen
Continue reading…When alarmed, their rapid career seems more like the flight of birds than the movement of an earthly being.
George Ord
Elk of the Shadows: LAPC
Solitary grazer
Hiding in filtered light
Antlers flocked in
Downy velvet
Oblivious to his
Wonder
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Shadows
Landscape of Grand Prismatic: LAPC
The water in some of the springs presents to the eye the colors of all the precious gems known to commerce. In one spring the hue is like that of an emerald, in another like that of the turquoise, another has the ultra-marine hue of the sapphire, another has the color of topaz; and the suggestions has been made that the names of these jewels may very properly be given to many of these springs.
Nathaniel Pitt Langford in Diary of the Washburn Expedition to the Yellowstone and Firehole Rivers in the Year 1870.
Grand Prismatic Spring is the crown jewel of hot springs at Yellowstone National Park. The landscape of Grand Prismatic has all the colors of the rainbow. The cracks and tracks add some interesting texture as well. This 370-foot wide spring is the largest in the United States and third largest in the world.
Unusual Clouds Above Bend : LAPC
The sky takes on shades of orange during sunrise and sunset, the colour that gives you hope that the sun will set only to rise again.
Ram Charan
We have many beautiful sunrises and sunsets here in Bend, Oregon. Sometimes the unique colors and forms of the clouds are totally unexpected and they’ll take your breath away. Here are a few of those moments my camera allowed me to capture.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Unexpected
The Road To… Oregon: LAPC
The curving road
Here are some curving roads to various scenic destinations in Oregon. When you’re driving down the road you never know what sights you’ll see just around the bend.
What is straight? A line can be straight, or a street, but the human heart, oh, no, it’s curved like a road through mountains.
Tennessee Williams
National Park Travels: LAPC
These photos are of our National Park travels within 1,000 miles of our home. We are lucky to live so close to so much beauty.
I tried to consider what was in the foreground as well as the background in these shots.
2018 Favorite Photos: LAPC
It’s always hard to pick favorite photos at the end of the year. Here are several representing nature, history, and culture. Enjoy and have a great New Year!
Favorite Photos – Nature
Blue Pool Reflections: LAPC
The Artwork of Nature
I visited Blue Pool on a cool September day. Mother Nature was busy there producing colorful works of art. The colors in the pool are unbelievably beautiful and intense. On this day, the warm colors of fall leaves were reflected on the water.
As I mentioned in Blue Pool is a Jewel, the reflections look like Impressionist paintings. I could have stayed there for a long time taking pictures. Can you see why?
Seasons – Glimpses of Oregon: LAPC
Making a Splash: LAPC
As you wade through the waters of your life you often end up making a splash. Sometimes you make a big loud splash and other times you need to make a quieter one. Maybe only a ripple. Here are photos of quieter splashes I have seen in Oregon.
Common merganser pair on the Deschutes River
Branches in a new light: LAPC
These images show branches in a new light…
Reclining and resting in a sea of green
Coated with a covering of snow
Framing a fiery sunrise
Burdened with a bounty of fruit
Shrouded by the smoke of a prescribed burn
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Magical Light
Yellowstone Hidden & Revealed: LAPC
In Yellowstone National Park, much of the wildlife is hidden from view. You have to look carefully to find the animals and sometimes they will reveal themselves to you.
Elk in the Lamar Valley are hidden as they blend into the landscape traveling along a ridge top.
However, when they cross a pond they are revealed. The splashing water draws your attention and their pale colored rumps make you take notice of them.
Fun photos: Photo Bloopers 3
Fun photos
It’s time for some fun photos to go along with the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge theme of Just for Fun. Here are some of my photo bloopers for your enjoyment. This is what I do with some of my photos that don’t turn out quite right.
Grizzly bear and ravens at West Yellowstone, Montana
The Three Gossips at Arches National Park, Utah
Swallows at Summer Lake, Oregon
Big Bold Art in Bend: LAPC
Big bold and beautiful
This summer a new big bold mural was added to the collection of outdoor art in the Old Mill District of Bend, Oregon. Yuya Negishi created this artwork. He was inspired by the mountains, colorful skies, and brilliant flowers of Central Oregon.
Did you notice that the dragon in this mural is breathing flowers instead of fire?
Here’s more about the artist from a post about Art Murals Around Bend.
“Yuya Negishi is a Japanese visual artist based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His work combines his extensive background in the classical Japanese techniques of calligraphy and SUMI with Japanese pop culture images such as koi, dragons and Buddha’s. Yuya approaches his work in the spirit of play often exploring new ideas and mediums. He also teaches hands on workshops sharing his approaches to SUMI and Calligraphy.
Yuya was born in a small farming community in the mountains beyond Tokyo. Yuya draws artistic inspiration from the memories and sensations of growing up in the Japanese countryside, where he would roam “like a hidden Ninja” exploring the woods, temples and mountain tops of the breathtaking Gunma region.”
See more of Yuya’s amazing art on yuyart .
This big bold artwork is right next to the flag bridge and it can be seen when you’re walking the Mill A Loop trail or floating the Deschutes River.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – BIG can be beautiful too!
Looking up at Fort Rock: LAPC
Looking up while looking back
These images from Fort Rock, Oregon focus on looking up. In this photo you see what a town from the early 1900’s may have looked like. Buildings were moved to this site to create the Fort Rock Valley Historical Society Homestead Village Museum. Each building is decorated with artifacts so it’s easy to imagine yourself stepping back in time.
Pioneers were promised rich and fertile land. That was not the reality in this arid high desert. Many settlers moved away after unsuccessfully trying to cultivate the land.
Desert Path to Chimney Rock: LAPC
Ancient trees direct
An ensemble of moist clouds
Over the desert
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Path
Outdoor Bonsai: Artful Miniatures LAPC
A sculpted garden of outdoor bonsai plants
I saw these outdoor bonsai trees on the High Desert Garden Tour in Bend, Oregon this summer. I marveled at the artistry that went into sculpting these plants. Though I’ve seen bonsai trees in the past, I was pleasantly surprised to see tree species that grow locally sculpted into small replicas of full size trees. You can see why they are referred to as “living art.”
Cotoneaster
Maple
Larch
Juniper
Juniper
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Small is beautiful
Red fox in action: Lens-artists challenge
A lucky sighting of a red fox
We saw this red fox in Yellowstone National Park in June of this year. This is the Rocky Mountain subspecies, Vulpes vulpes macroura.
The red fox is not seen often in the park because they are nocturnal and they blend into their preferred habitats along the edges of meadows and forests. The females nurse their kits during late spring and this may have been a female out looking for food. Foxes usually use dens created by other animals.
We were fortunate to see a female with kits on another spring visit to Yellowstone. Litter size averages four to eight kits. Vixens gives birth in late March to April. Both parents care for the young through their first few months of their life.
When wolves were introduced into the park, many coyotes were eliminated by the wolves and this may have caused an increase in the number of foxes. Coyotes prefer sagebrush and open meadow habitat and hunt more by day so they don’t compete as much with foxes.
The red fox is the smallest dog-like mammal in the park. The males weigh 11-12 pounds and the females weigh 10 pounds. They average 43 inches in length. Most foxes live 3-7 years but in Yellowstone can live up to 11 years.
High Desert Garden Tour: Colorful
Colorful Flowers on the High Desert Garden Tour
Here are some pictures from the High Desert Garden Tour located in Bend, Oregon. Lots of colorful gardens out there!
There were gardens with winding paths and comfortable places to sit to take in the scenery.
Patterns in water: Lens-Artists Challenge
Hard and soft patterns in water
To me, this image of patterns in water looks like the chiseled profile of a white-frosted creature from another world. The shape is echoed in the shoreline across the stream.
Amber Echoes
This image looks like an alien planet where worlds float on pale greenish-gold islands anchored by strong strands of green. Once the worlds are full, they detach from their moorings and float away.
Floating Green Worlds
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Patterns
Soft sights at Sunset Lake: LAPC
A harsh landscape with soft edges
There are many soft sights to see in Yellowstone National Park’s harsh environments. Soft and steaming mist drifts over Sunset Lake. Soft puffy clouds float over rounded hills in the distance.
The colors along the shorelines blend softly into one another giving the lake its name. To me, it is a mystical sort of place that has many stories to tell.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Soft
Cooling Otters: Lens-Artists Photo Challenge
Three guys cooling their jets
When it’s as hot as it’s been (102 degrees here yesterday!) I wish I could do a little cooling off by being an otter. Here are three cooling otters in motion.
They always look like they’re having so much fun.
Green Worlds Beneath Me: Photo Challenge – Wonder
Tiny worlds beneath me
I often have to remind myself to look down and notice the worlds beneath me when I’m taking pictures. Here’s a picture of aquatic plants being combed by the waves and highlighted by the sun.
Here’s a picture of a lichen “forest” growing on weathered wood. Worlds of wonder exist in landscapes large and small.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Wonder