Our Mindful Eye

Every year I buy a Mandevilla vine to put on my deck or tuck in my flowers. It is such a beautiful tropical flower that blooms abundantly. They don't overwinter here so you either buy a new one each year or you bring it indoors.  I have opted to buy one each year, but this year I think I will be bringing it indoors.  I love that I can go out and pick a flower to place in my hair anytime I want, much like you do when you are in Hawaii! I meant to post an additional photo of the plant at a distance so you could see it at a distance.  Now that I am thinking about it, I may wait to post this until tomorrow, so I can quick get one.  Yeah, yeah, that's the ticket........ UPDATE : I decided to wait until the next day to get a photo of the whole plant, but the next day turned into several and now I am really late posting.  😳

I am a tropical flower junkie, I live in the midwest, but I have grown bananas, bamboo, castor beans, elephant ears and several other outdoors with lots of success!  Right now I have a lemon tree, elephant ears, lemon grass, and this Mandevilla growing on my deck. Some day soon I will have a yard again that I will be able to turn into a tropical oasis, until then..............................

When I took art class in high school, I had an assignment in which I chose to paint flowers.  I don't remember the details of the assignment, but I remember the lesson I learned which was to have some whole flowers present in the painting, but also to have some flowers that were on partially on the painting.  So there would varying degrees of flowering partially showing on the canvas.  Apparently that adds interest and balances it out.  I'm not sure if that applies to flower photography composition, but I went with it. See I did learn something in high school that I hardly attended. 😜

Because I am posting this late, I know that Tracie had a feline photo shoot of her cat Nyla!  I don't take pictures of our cat much these days, but I am feeling inspired!  Our cat known as Paisley, or Fela, might not be around much longer, so you might see some of those in my future shots. Be sure and read post. 

Let us dance in the sun, wearing wild flowers in our hair... 

~Susan Polis Shutz