High Summer in Spring

I've been absent here for a few days as in all honesty I preferred making the most of our tropical temperatures rather than wrestling with my dial-up connection and spending hours in front of the computer. What a few days we've had. Records for the highest temperature in Scotland have been broken, not just once but on every consecutive day since Saturday. The previous record had stood since 1957!

I've also been for yet another dental operation and used that as an excuse to throw all work aside and give myself permission to just sit and read books. Very naughty and I felt it, as the only remaining sign of my upbringing is the very Calvinistic work ethic I have carried with me ever since. I suspect this is because apart from that upbringing I quite simply am a workaholic by nature and don't like to waste time when I can be working. But feeling truely miserable combined with the sunshine meant it was okay for me to be lazy for a few days.

The picture above is a Helleborus X ericsmithii and is another of my extreme macro flower portraits!

I am reading a book about photography and it keeps urging its readers to experiment more with your camera and take pictures of what at first sight might be considered unpromising subjects, so above is the inside of a tin watering can. Alll I will say at the moment is that it has potential although I'm far from sure what for!

But in the end I always return to my flower photography. I just can't help myself. The colours and textures in flowers simply can't be bettered however much I try to do so in my art. And I think photographing so many different textures is definitely a help in reproducing some of that on my work. Also letting the colours of nature sink into my subconscious mind makes the colours on my quilts sing. I adore all colours but yellow has a very special place in my heart! Above a primula we bought recently.