Summer is Honeysuckle

To me, there can't be summer without honeysuckle. Ever since I can remember, full-blown summer has been heralded by the scent of honeysuckle wafting along on the warm, humid air. It's what makes that warm, humid air bearable, even enchanting. It smells like fairytales and wild adventures and true love. But best of all, it holds a delicious, sweet secret ready for the taking... ask the butterflies and the bees if you don't know of what it is.

photo: http://www.carolinanature.com/trees/loja.html

Thunderstorms

Oh, how I love thunderstorms. I eagerly await the wonderful, wild thunderstorms of the summer each year. The wind blows in carrying the scent of wet woods and fields, and soon enough, you hear the distant rumble of thunder.

photo by Ginger, Ozarks Walkabout http://ozarkswalkabout.com/backpacking-at-hercules-glades-wilderness/

Then it descends, all the wild wind, and hard rain drops pelting my skin, and piercing, crackling lightning. I breathe deeply, and sit back to watch... but sometimes I run out into it, glorying in the power and might and heedless wildness of it all. If I could throw myself onto the wind and be born away, I would be gone in a flash of lighting.

photo by pchow, http://www.flickr.com/photos/pchow98/favorites/?view=lg

The Dawn

The dawn is a wonderful time. The world is still and quiet, waiting for the new day to start. There are so many possibilities for what it might bring, but in the dawning one is simply content to sit and feel the peace and magic of a beauty that is thunderous in its silence.

Maxfield Parrish, Daybreak, 1922

Nelleke, Stil Leven, 2012

Maxfield Parrish, Morning, 1922

Spring Flowers for Monday

It's a rather dreary Monday morning here, and I believe we could all use a good cheering up with more pictures of spring flowers. I've paired them with corresponding Pre-Raphaelite artworks as well, since that always cheers me up too. Enjoy!

Violets, Henry Meynell Rheam, 1904

A Vision of Fiammetta, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1878

"I am half sick of shadows" said the Lady of Shalott, Sidney Harold Meteyard, 1913

Apple Blossoms, John Everett Millais, 1859

Apple Blossoms and Violets

There's an old house down the street from us that hasn't had anyone living in it for years. Those are the best kind, because the lawns get overgrown with flowers and vines, and the trees grow wild and blossom as much as they want. This spring, it's really gone wild.

Florence Harrison

I recently discovered this enchanting illustrator from the Golden Age of illustration. Her name is Florence Harrison, and for over sixty years her identity was unknown. Female artists, as just about everyone knows, were overlooked and and under appreciated for quite a long time, but female illustrators were practically ignored for the simple fact that illustrators in general are considered a lower life form in the art world even today. So it isn't surprising that no one knew who she was. Even the names Arthur Rackham and Maxfield Parrish earn sneers from many of those who consider themselves fine artists or art critics.

But Florence Harrison's work is stellar. It's absolutely enchanting, and her line work and use of color are sensitive and sophisticated. She has ties to the Pre-Raphaelite movement as well, having illustrated a volume of Christina Rossetti's poems. Just take a look at some of these enchanting works, and then read more about her on http://www.florenceharrison.com/herlife.html.

Maiden Song, Florence Harrison

Rapunzel, Florence Harrison 

A Birthday, Florence Harrison 

Night Slid Down, Florence Harrison 

Dreamland, Florence Harrison 

Dream Love, Florence Harrison

The Queen of the Faeries

Long ago I was enchanted by the Queen of the Faeries...

Amber Grey Photography