Category: Color Art

I’ve never once taken a close look at my flowers, and I didn’t feel instantly better.

Scent molecules travel through the nose to special receptors that send signals to the deepest emotional parts of the brain. Our politicians should have some on their desks while they sleep and ask for money.

Smelling flowers makes us feel better because scent molecules travel directly to the brain’s memory centers (the limbic system), bypassing rational filters. Inhaling these scents stimulates the release of “feel-good” neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin, which reduce cortisol (a stress hormone), improve mood, and promote relaxation.

I didn’t really believe that until I began spending serious time with flowers. They work to promote calm and positive feelings. They really do. Come and see for yourself. Nothing to lose, it’s free, and I will never collect your e-mail or ask you to subscribe to the blog.

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My assistant. Heading off for a drink.

My Assistant, Zip, asked for the day off. My new Muse, a Christmas present from Maria, is filling in for one night. Last seen, Zip was off hunting a mole under the snow. This Muse needs business.

MyAssistant showed up. His belly is full.

Message from CC3D: “This blog feels like a much-needed sanctuary in a chaotic world. The serene vibe and focus on peace are truly uplifting. It’s a beautiful space to escape negativity and reflect.”  – Thanks, CC3D, that’s what I’m hoping for.

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The blog is an ongoing work of literature that attempts to portray the beauty of country life and the deep connection humans have to the wonder and life of agricultural labor and nature itself. The morning and afternoon blogs are inspired by the pastoralists, the people who lived a nomadic or semi-nomadic life centered on farms and their animals—sheep, goats, or cattle —while many farmers migrated to cities to work.

They missed their lives.

This movement spawned pastoral art. This art, in paintings and then, much later, in photography, was intended to fulfill the yearning for a simpler life in the country and to provide those people with a safe place to pray and paint in community when they were not allowed to attend church services. They also helped people yearning for beauty, even if it was sometimes exaggerated.

The term Pastoral relates to rural life and the lives of people who live in the country. Maria and I both feel a great attachment to it, especially since cities have become so complicated, expensive, and far removed from nature. I was surprised to learn that this is where I belong, and this led to my flower art and Pastoral Morning photographs.  I feel now it was in my blood, as rural life is in all of ours, one way or another. Thanks for reading.

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My assistant was late again. He did show up.

Color and light.

Falling In love.

A dance.

These are the first photos of flowers in my garden bed in 2025. I bought some flowers for the bed, ordered some online, and planted most of them yesterday. It will be 34 degrees tonight, so I’ll hold off on the rest until it gets warm tomorrow. I will keep buying flowers for some of my photos, pick more wildflowers (with Maria’s help), and take as many pictures of the garden bed flowers as possible.

I’ve been waiting for today all winter.

I’m ready for all seasons.  I have spotlights in the house for bad weather days.

The kinds of flowers I want to photograph have evolved quite a bit; it’s not simple to choose them anymore. I’ve gotten fussy.

Most of these photos today were taken by my iPhone 15 Pro Max in honor of the iPhone 13 I used when I first started taking flower photos.

I love this camera, but I am also very much in love with my Leica, and I expect to use both throughout the year. I’m proud that I haven’t missed a day with my flower art since last fall. Thanks for coming along and for all of the good words in between. See

Zip got his nose into everything and checked out the garden bed early.

My Calla, which I’ve been nursing for months, loves being outdoors and is booming.

I don’t know what this is, but I love the color.

My Calla seems right at home.

We’re going to have fun this Spring and Winter.

See you later. I call this Bird Junior; he seems to be the youngest woodpecker. We stare at one another.

“Around us, life bursts forth with miracles – a glass of water, a ray of sunshine, a leaf, a caterpillar, a flower, laughter, raindrops. If you live in awareness, it is easy to see miracles everywhere. Each human being is a multiplicity of miracles. Eyes that see thousands of colors, shapes, and forms; ears that hear a bee flying or a thunderclap; a brain that ponders a speck of dust as quickly as the entire cosmos; a heart that beats in rhythm with the heartbeat of other beings. When we are tired and feel discouraged by life’s daily struggles, we may not notice these miracles, but they are always there.”

—— Thich Nhat Hanh