art + photography

all posts related to artwork I’ve created, or photography

April Showers Bring May Flowers

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purple violets amongst the grass

Spring took its time arriving this year. The leaves have finally popped, and the flowers are just starting to bloom. We are several weeks “behind” (though it’s not as though Spring follows a schedule) so it’s been lovely to finally see the garden coming up in the past couple of weeks.

tiny yellow tulips blooming

These are tiny yellow and white tulips- only a few inches tall, and they were the first to come up!

I don’t have much to say today. I was looking forward to getting into blogging regularly again and had a schedule planned, but then hit a bump in the road health-wise which has slowed me down quite considerably for the past week. Thankfully, I am now on the road to recovery, and at last able to put down some words and edit some photos! I’ve also been thinking a lot lately about different fashion related topics. I haven’t written up any posts lately, but am hoping to get some thoughts down on paper soon, and be able to bring you some more blog posts, like back in the “old days” of this blog. (haha- only a couple of years ago, but time does fly!)

I hope you are doing well, and happy weekend everyone!

periwinkle iris bloom

I wish you could smell this iris- it has the sweetest scent!

pink blooms

Nanking Cherry with such a pretty pink bloom, 

violets and hens and chicks

These tiny little violets came up in the lawn- so adorable. And hens and chicks on the right.

tiny white flowers

These tiny white flowers are a weed, but so pretty! Each bloom is only about 3-4mm across.

yellow buttercups and baby leaves

These tiny yellow cinquefoil flowers also came up in the grass- so cute. Right: don’t you love new leaf green?

plum tree blooms

My favourite plum tree, just covered in beautiful, sweet blooms this year!

plum tree and false spirea

More plum blooms, and False Spirea leaves on the right. 

bog flower

Bog Rosemary- such a cool pink flower!

Elephants Ears on the left and Bethlehem Sage on the right. 

baby oak leaves

Some tiny, baby, oak leaves to finish it off. 

Welcome Spring

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first day of spring outfit

Welcome Spring- you are long awaited!

Today, for the First Day of Spring, while the sun is shining in the sky, there is still a lot of snow out there, so no pictures of tulips and crocuses popping their heads up. We won’t have any growing things outside for at least a month either, here in Alberta, so I decided to both draw and wear my own flowers today instead. I also added in my favourite bee necklace for good measure!

poppy earrings for spring

urban alchemy bee necklace

I haven’t been outside to enjoy the sunshine today, though I was planning on going for a walk this afternoon, because I think I’m coming down with a cold. Perhaps going for a walk would be the best thing, though. Getting out and getting some fresh air and sunshine would probably be a good thing.

It’s been a strange last while, hasn’t it? The COVID-19 virus pandemic has managed to touch all of our lives. A few weeks ago, it felt like it was (quite literally) something happening on the other side of the world. Of course, things like this do affect us all, but my day to day life hadn’t changed very much. I’m an introvert, and I work from home, so “self isolating” is basically my everyday life.

However, now with this disease spreading to all corners of the world, it actually is starting to affect me. I may jokingly say that I self isolate all the time, but the reality is that I can go out whenever I choose to. It’s as simple as putting on my coat and shoes and walking out the door.

To suddenly be aware of the fact that you shouldn’t go out, well…it’s entirely different isn’t it? Realizing that you shouldn’t go out browsing the shops, that the library is closed, that the grocery stores are all out of rolled oats (and you really just wanted some porridge), that since you’ve got cold symptoms you need to stay indoors to protect everyone else (just in case it’s not a cold, but you’ve actually contracted the disease…), and that now is not the ideal time to be dropping off resumes and looking for work…well it can get a bit stressful can’t it?

be anxious for nothing artwork

Last night as I was reading my Bible, these verses came to mind, so I immediately flipped over to Philippians to read them again. I went to sleep with these words on my mind, and woke up this morning eager to put them to paper. And since it’s the first day of Spring, I thought that some flowers were apropos to add some sunshine and hope. Times of refreshing do come.

How are you celebrating the first day of Spring?

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4: 6-7

Poppy pearl earrings by Andrea Shelley Designs

Bee necklace by Urban Alchemy Jewelry

welcome spring botanical artwork

first day of spring floral outfit

The View From Here

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Well, it’s actually not the view from where I am currently, since these photos were all taken at my previous apartment, but that title just had a catchy ring to it, so….

This is going to be a very photo heavy post, but the other day I was scrolling through my phone and realized that I have a lot of photos of the view from our old apartment, and it seemed like a compilation of them was in order. These might not even be all the photos I took, but they were all the ones I could find in my disorganized hard drive!

I’m not going to say that I miss living at that place, because obviously there are reasons why we left, but it really was a gorgeous view from our living room window. The building was built on a hill, and our window faced West overlooking the valley, which meant we got to enjoy some beautiful sunsets. Unfortunately the view was the best thing about the place though, and that’s not enough of a reason to stay somewhere!

Anyways, here are some photos from the past year, spanning from last June to this past March- it’s amazing how the weather can drastically change the view from day to day, isn’t it?

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June 9, 2018: This one was from when I was in the basement apartment, so a slightly different angle. It kind of looked like a tornado started forming, but it never fully formed or touched down.

July 2, 2018: Two photos- one from early afternoon and one from the evening of the day I moved into the upstairs apartment.

July 6, 2018

July 18, 2018

August 8, 2018: One of the first days when the smoke from the BC wildfires started blowing across the province- not the worst we were to see, unfortunately!

August 13, 2018: One day of rain and a blessed relief of the smoke, but the smoke blew right back in the next day.

August 15, 2018: Two days later, and it looked like the apocalypse was upon us. That was a strange day as it was so hazy we had to turn the lights on indoors, and even the birds weren’t singing, casting an eerie calm.

August 16, 2018: The next day the smoke had lessened, and lost it’s orange glow. Thankfully the smoke started lessening shortly after this!

September 5, 2018

September 9, 2018: One of the most enjoyable things was watching the valley turn colours in the Fall.

Sept 10, 2018: In just one day, the leaves had changed colour so much more, but the lighting on this day also cast an autumnal hue in the image.

September 13, 2018: The first snow of the year, that quickly melted, but always seems to come too early!

September 15, 2018: Another snowfall a couple of days later!

September 21, 2018: And a week later, this heavier snowfall!

October 18, 2018: One of the most beautiful sunsets of our time there.

November 29, 2018: And this sunset too…

January 4, 2019

February 7, 2019: The fog off the reservoir always looked so cold on Winter days like this!

March 12, 2019

March 20, 2019.

March 28, 2019: The last evening I spent in the apartment.

March 29, 2019: Taken on the last afternoon we spent in our apartment, just before giving back the keys.

An Ode to Dying Tulips

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An Ode to Tulips, the artyologist

A few weeks ago my mom brought me a bouquet of tulips, which was so incredibly lovely of her. I had been thinking of picking up a bouquet when I was at the grocery store in the morning, but when they were sold out of anything nice, I figured I would just do without. However, I didn’t have to do without, as my mom stopped at the local florist and brought me these tulips later in the day! It’s not as though bouquets of flowers are necessary, but they can make such a difference to your mood can’t they?

tea-and-tulips, the artyologist

Sadly, these didn’t last very long for some reason. Mine got a bit dry, as I left them for a few days over the weekend and the leaves started to die. I think they just weren’t the best flowers this time, though, since my sister got a bouquet as well and hers didn’t even open fully. Even though they died much too quickly, they were still lovely to have for a short time, and I decided that they were still worth documenting. There can be beauty even in fading things.

tulip bouquet detail the artyologist

tulips-horizontal, the artyologist

tulip-bouquet-the artyologist

tulips-on-dresser, the artyologist

tulip-study, the artyologist

Lilacs to Welcome the First Day of Spring

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Lilacs to Welcome the First Day of Spring, the artyologist

Happy first official day of Spring! A quick look out my window still shows piles of snow, despite what the calendar says, so today I am sharing a look back to these photos I took last Spring. I took this set last June, but never published them so, since there are no flowers growing around here yet, nor will there be for a quite a while longer, I thought I would share them with you today, even though they are almost a year late!

Lilacs to Welcome the First Day of Spring, top view of tea, the artyologist

We did get another huge snowfall this past weekend, despite my wishes to the contrary in my last post, but yesterday it was such a warm day, that the snow is melting fast. I have decided that there will be no more photos including large drifts of snow here on the blog, until next winter! This might mean that all of my photos will need to be taken indoors, or I won’t have any outfit photos for a while. . . but I am so ready for winter to be finished. So until spring really feels like it is here, I will have to make do with looking at last years photos, and enjoying the bouquet of tulips my mom bought for me last week!

Happy Spring dear Readers!

Is it looking and feeling like Spring in your part of the world?

Lilacs to Welcome the First Day of Spring, tea cup, the artyologist

Lilacs to Welcome the First Day of Spring, books, the artyologist

Lilacs to Welcome the First Day of Spring, tea and lilacs, the artyologist

Lilacs to Welcome the First Day of Spring, bouquet with tea, the artyologist

Lilacs to Welcome the First Day of Spring, bouquet, the artyologist

Lilacs to Welcome the First Day of Spring, bouquet and tea, the artyologist

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