Not a catch-all post, but a photo of a spider web I discovered hanging off the edge of evergreen branches, like a net ready to catch anything that passed by:

Maybe that explains where all those squirrels got off to. Kidding!

(If you’re viewing this blog entry in a reader or in facebook, make sure you click the thumbnail or you probably won’t see the delicate spider web amid all the green.)

Years ago I found a cool copper mug with a brass stamp of the Aztec/Mayan calendar on it – this is a close up of the calendar relief on that mug. Just felt like taking a macro photo of it! Dramatic story, no?

(Click the image above for a larger view, and to get a goldish print for your wall – heh.)

It’s too bad that most stone statues, especially angels, are mostly seen just in cemeteries now. But they’re still very striking, nonetheless.

I especially liked the sleeping angel – loved the way the top wing curved around and the edge reflected the sun.

Down the road, there’s a house with this star on the side of their garage. The colors and look just felt so ‘folk art’ – I hope the photo captured the feel adequately!

Click on the image above for some Star Americana wall prints, framed or unframed. (without my copyright mark of course)

I also thought this star looked very Fourth of July ish on t-shirts and buttons and other keepsakes:

Click on any of the sample products to see the full ‘Star Americana’ line of cool stuff.

And thanks for looking – hope you have a great Independence Day next week!

Poppy flowers represented in hard granite… would ‘juxtaposition’ be an apt word here?

Anyway, I liked this part of the carving so much I made it a fine art print – click on the image to see a zoom or purchase, etc.

I also put elements of it on things like buttons, cards, keepsake boxes – a little gothic flavor with non-gothicky things:

Click an image above to see all the ‘Stone Poppies’ stuff – including tote bags, journals, hats, polo shirts, etc.

There are tons of gorgeous white birch trees in the Catskill Mountains. The peeling and curling bark on this tree made for a nice high contrast black and white photo:

As usual, click on the image to see a zoom or to get this fine artsy photo print for your wall – framed or unframed. And thanks for looking!

In our area of the northeastern United States, Bleeding Heart flowers pop up in mid-spring. I’d completely forgotten about them until I spotted them in the yard one morning too. They’re amazing looking flowers and the ‘bleeding heart’ name is quite justified, as you can see:

As the flower blossoms further, the ‘drop of blood’ hanging down separates into two sections which lift back up toward the main heart – how fascinating is that?

We still have some blooming in our yard at this point, but not as many as the initial explosion of them about a month ago. Very cool!

(Click the image to see a larger version or get framed or unframed prints.)

Another photo of our neighbor’s aged barn, involving many layers of paint and a weathered old ‘no smoking’ sign.

Oh, yes, and a weird latch and door configuration, can’t forget that. *grin*

Much more artsy to put up a framed photo of a weathered No Smoking sign than a one of those plastic signs you buy at the hardware store. More vague too, but cooler to look at – LOL. Click here or on the image to get a framed or unframed print of this worn warning. (The copyright lines do not appear on the purchased prints.)

A hanging basket of electric magenta-purple petunias that has taken up residence on our front porch roof overhang…

That’s all for today – hope everyone’s having a good weekend!

This is another ‘rural decay’ photograph of the neighbor’s barn. Or rather of an old door on the barn, with tremendously peeling paint and a shiny black ‘diamond’ window in the middle – definitely a ‘diamond in the rough’. (Yes, yes, it’s not really a diamond, but a square at a 45 degree angle, but go away – you’re cramping my poetic license – LOL.)

I also love how the bottom 2 feet of door is completely stripped of paint. I’m guessing this is because of rain, or more likely snow accumulations during the winter piling up on the ground there.

Click on the image or click here to see a larger, much more detailed version of this image, as well as to buy framed or unframed prints. Nothing brightens up a wall like an image of peeling paint! (Ummm… Uh… Hmmmm. Never mind.)