art + photography

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

The View From Here

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?

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

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

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

On a Winter’s Day

winters-day-pinecone, the artyologist

Since moving to town last fall, I don’t get to enjoy the winter frost as much anymore. We don’t get the ice fog, and resulting frost, in town the same way that my family’s house in the country does. And when we do, there are a bunch of obnoxious houses in the way blocking the view 😉 So, a few weeks ago, when visiting my family on a frosty day, I took the opportunity to run outside and take some photos of the landscape, as it was so incredibly beautiful.

Have I already taken many photos of the frost in winters past? Yes! Does that stop me from taking more? Nope! Sorry there are so many photos- everywhere I looked was another interesting detail or view I wanted to capture! Also, even though these photos were taken a few weeks ago, and we almost into March now, (and with that: spring!) it still looks every bit of winter out there, so I thought these photos wouldn’t be too out of place.

winters-day-red-shed, the artyologist

On another note, I’ve been quite busy this past week, as I was preparing for, and then showing my artwork at an art show this weekend. (The same one I went to last year, and talked about here) (Also- hi and welcome to anyone who has found my blog through the show!) The show went well, but even though it is now over, I think things are going to keep getting busier, because. . . I start a new job tomorrow! I am very excited about it! With that change in my schedule, though, I am going to have to make some changes to the blog.

I’ve been keeping to a fairly regular schedule for the past year or so, posting on Tuesdays and Fridays, but lately that hasn’t seemed to be working very well for me. Since the fall time, my schedule has changed a lot, and I’ve had things keeping me from blogging. I think it is time to let the pressure off, so I have decided that it is OK to post less frequently. That was a self imposed rule anyways 🙂 I still want to post once a week- and as I have time, maybe some weeks I will be able to post more than that! Anyways, I just wanted to let you know why it might get a bit quieter around here. Oh, and because this blog wouldn’t be much without you, thank-you to all of you Dear Readers who follow along! I hope you all have a wonderful last week of February and first of March! (Spring is just around the corner, I can feel it!)

winters-day-3, the artyologist

winters-day-gas-tank, the artyologist

winters-day-seedheads, the artyologist

winters-day-2, the artyologist

winters-day-chicken-shed, the artyologist

winters-day-pine-branch, the artyologist

wood stack, horizontal, the artyologist

winters-day-gas-tank-2, the artyologist

winters-day-1, the artyologist

winters-day-tire, the artyologist

winters-day-4, the artyologist

Valentine’s Day Cards and Cake

Valentine's Day Cards and Cake, the artyologist

I can finally share the cards I made this year, now that Valentine’s Day is over! (I didn’t want to share these pictures before, as I didn’t want people to see the cards here before they received them.)

This year I decided to really simplify my cards, as I didn’t have a lot of time to dedicate to making them, so I decided to do some Valentine themed drawings, and then colour them with watercolour. I used heavy cardstock, rather than watercolour paper, so the ink would come out smooth and crisp. After letting the ink dry, I went over with the watercolour, then trimmed them and that was that. I made sure to take some scans of them as I might turn them into some card designs in the future. I think that some of them would work OK for “just because” cards, not just for Valentine’s Day, what do you think?

valentines cards-and-cake, the artyologist

And of course, I had to share this delicious coconut and chocolate tart that I made in honour of the day. I decided to do some food photography, because it turned out so pretty! Of course that cocoa powder made a huge mess all over the place, but it was worth it for some photos 😉

Anyways, I have nothing else to really say, so I wish you all a great weekend! Here in Alberta it is a long weekend, so I am looking forward to that extra day off. See you all next week!

Valentine's Day Cards and Cake, all cards, the artyologist

valentines cards, the artyologist

valentines day cake, the artyologist

scattered valentines cards, the artyologist

valentines cards, the artyologist

valentine's day cards, the artyologist

valentine's day cake, the artyologist