Bare Trees

I know it is April in Northwest Indiana and we are all anxious to see buds forming on the trees and green in our landscape again.  However I love photographing the shapes of trees, proudly standing and reaching long after their leafy garments have fallen to the ground.

Trees have a mysterious beauty and grace that can only be seen once they have shed their green robes.   Yes, they are beautiful when they are full of spring blooms, majestic in summer's green mantle and breathtaking in autumn's fiery display.  But beneath all those trappings, each tree hides a personality that can be witnessed only when the sap flows down to the roots and winter's winds scatter the leaves.

Boughs and branches curve this way and that, always reaching like bony fingertips up and out and over.  No two trees are the same, no shape duplicated.  To me they are fascinating!

They stand in stark contrast against the sky - silhouettes that remind me of the Asian art I tried to emulate as a young girl.  Dropping a large dot or two of India ink on slick white rice paper and blowing air through a straw to make the ink travel across the page uncontrolled,  I was able to create dark, meandering lines that looked like branches and vines.  My artwork was a pale comparison to the artistry of the real tree trunks and branches I love to capture in my photographs.

Glimpses of Spring

Brown leaves, wispy dried grasses and brown patches of last year's mulch are left uncovered after snow has melted into late March and early April days.  Suddenly you see it - that splash of color there in the midst of the drab and lifeless.  Crocus' defy the chilly temperatures of early spring mornings and frosty spring nights.  They open their petals in spite of that last feeble attempt by winter to hold on.  It is the first glimpse of a beauty lying just beneath the surface waiting, waiting.  Soon color will be all around us but for now, that special spot of purple and yellow in my front yard is enough.