My partner in life is an artist who works in many media. She fills the space around us, inside and outside our home, with beautiful things. Her gardens crowd with daily works-in-progress as she adds one more spot of life to a year-round creation. It unfolds in time as the season and color for one group of living things peaks and then fades, in a cycle that never ends and that never repeats in quite the same way.
Cabbage and Calendula
Her natural works of art speak for themselves. I’ve put a few images here, and many more are going up on Flickr. Each is a glimpse of one moment and breaks up the flow of this complicated garden life. If you can see enough of them, though, you begin to get a sense of what she is making, day by day. It’s a big part of the healing in my life.
Rose Garden
Winter Gem with Erysimum
Display with Sylvie
Angel's Trumpet with Potato Bush
Sunset
Image credits: All Rights Reserved by Wild Rubies at Flickr
Thanks for the explanation. I do wish to do the right thing if possible so I’ll look into it.
Take care
What is a Creative Commons License? I tend to grab images and provide a link back to the website or artist. Should I be doing something different?
I know what you mean about the time spent looking for images – same here. Thanks for any tips John.
Creative Commons is a movement to get away from reserving rights under strict copyright law to sharing them with just a few restrictions. The CC licenses let you use an image so long as you attribute its source & also link to the license – some also forbid commercial uses and have other requirements. The caption under each image I use (unless it’s one of ours) has a link that says Some Rights Reserved. That link takes you to the Creative Commons site explaining the license. The rest of the site explains what the licensing is all about. There are other licenses that also promote sharing – like GPL. It’s a complicated topic. Most people online don’t seem to follow copyright rules, but unless they’re using images for commercial purposes it’s unlikely they’d ever be told to take something down.
John
Beautiful John. Nature is healing, I believe that too. It does strike me that you are being very modest. You also have artistic taste and vision I believe, even if your wife is the ‘official’ artist 🙂 I always notice your carefully chosen art for each post – how it subtly reflects the theme you write about, and often is also gorgeous in its own right. Or does your wife also choose your art?
You too are an artist! Cheers
Hi, Ellen –
Well, thank you. I’m so glad you like the choice of photos. Sometimes it takes as long to find just the right image as it does to write the post – often because I limit myself to those I can freely reproduce under a Creative Commons license. But I’ve learned a lot from my wife’s visualization of what she wants. Like me, she has a hard time promoting her work, but it should be out there.
All my best to you — John
What wonderful images. I’ve just begun gardening, and I’m awed by the beauty of what your wife has created!
Susan
Thanks, Susan –
I’ll let her know. We’re going to start a garden blog soon, so there will be a lot more.
My best to you.
John
Magnificent…I could live forever in a place like this…truly a work of art!
I too love gardening. I love the smell of the soil, the texture of the dirt in my hands, the sweat rolling down my face and then sitting back after the work is done and just looking at it… The curves of the garden, the shades of the trees and flowers and even the scent paint pictures that only I truly understand. The earth is my canvas and it is there that I truly find peace….
Thanks for sharing these photos; this post in particular brought great joy to my heart.
How beautifully you describe it! I believe you’ve put into words exactly what my wife feels and have also captured so well the peace that she and I share with the gardens around us. She is the one who has her hands in the soil each day, nurturing seedlings, transferring plants as they move from one life phase to the next. All this is great evidence of the spirituality that suffuses daily life – it takes getting the hands a little dirty to unlock the response to that power.
I’m so glad these images of her work bring you some of that peace.
My best to you —
John
Gardening has been my outlet from stress for a decade, and many gardens were a solace away from home when my daughter was in hospitals. I have some sort of affinity with flowers, it gives me great peace and joy to watch them bloom. I haven’t spent much time creating though the last few years. I do a lot of thinking outside, and it all ties into my writing, sometimes directly influenced by what’s out there, or a fragrance, etc.
I love the photo with the cat in the window.
Hi, Stephany –
You’ve written quite beautifully about some of those moments when you found renewal in gardens. Your garden images are always beautiful. I get outside as much as I can just to be around the growing things, listen to birds singing and feel the sun. It always helps.
Thank you!
All my best to you — John
Hi, John –
I just discovered your blog — I am tickled with finding such a treasure!
I love these photos — your yard absolutely looks like something out of a fairy tale! Thanks for sharing!
– Marie (Coming Out of the Trees)
http://mmaaggnnaa.wordpress.com/
Hi, Marie –
I’m so glad you like the pictures – and the blog, of course!
Thanks for coming by – I look forward to reading your blog!
My best — John
Your house and the gardens are just gorgeous!! The sort of place I could easily spend days hanging out around.
Thank you, Svasti –
That’s just the way I feel. Since I’ve eliminated a job with killing stress and now work from home, it’s very healing just to walk outside and sit in one of the great spaces my wife has created.
Thanks for coming by —
John
What a beautiful display! I’m sure a lot of TLC went into all of it. And, great photos to capture those creations.
Rich
Thanks, Rich –
TLC indeed. Gardening is my wife’s passion – and she is able to envision exactly how an ensemble will grow and work together over time. An amazing ability.
Thanks for coming by.
John
That is so beautiful, thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Stephany –
Good to see you here!
John