Every Day in Life is Beautiful

A gentle morning sky

taken from my balcony.

Soft petals and curves in pastel colours

which remind me of the colours of my temperature blanket so far.

Under a large oak tree, these bright and charming tiny cyclamen were growing.

There's such beauty in skies at any time of the day.

This was taken today as the tiny moon rose in the pastels of the sky.

With the 75th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp.

last Monday on January 27th,

I wanted to re-read the story of Alice Herz-Sommer.

She was a gifted concert pianist and Holocaust survivor.

She said that music kept her and her young son alive.

I have two books about this lady. 

The one above and another entitled: 'A Century of Wisdom'.

I can recommend them both.

Alice was an incredibly positive person her whole life.

She is truly inspirational.

Her quotations are really meaningful.

Here is one of them:

"Life is beautiful. You have to be thankful that we are living.

Wherever you look is beauty.

I know about the bad things, but I look for good things"

Alice Herz-Sommer

The colourful presence of tulips in our homes brings such joy.

I crocheted a reversible heart for my front door with daisies.

The month of February makes us think of hearts!

I like the plain red side, but the three colours is fun too.

That's the one that's on show today.

I may change it for the red side on February 14th.

Here is a link for the heart pattern

I went for a lovely brisk walk in my neighbourhood

and on my way back, around 6 pm,

I stopped to enjoy this beautiful sky.

When I got home,

the sky was deepening.

"Every day in life is beautiful ... every day."

Alice Herz-Sommer.

The beauty is there even when we fail to notice it.

When we look around us with awareness

we can see it or hear it in the songs of the birds at dawn and dusk.

Yesterday, on returning from my walk, I heard a blackbird sing for the first time this year.

Continuing the 2020 Flower Challenge with a new flower to crochet every week of the year.

Here is Flower number 3

A little daisy.

If you would like to join the challenge.

Check out Anabelia craft design

May you find something beautiful every day of your life.

Autumn Walks

With the cooler days,

the leaves have begun to change colour and have started to fall.

The geraniums are still blooming and will continue to do so until the first frosts.

This lovely area above the lake is called Mont Pèlerin

My son drove me up here recently on a very short visit to Switzerland.

It was still so warm that we had to peel off our jackets.

There was a lovely wooded area too with the sunshine illuminating the leaves.

Nearer home, both in my neighbourhood and down at the park,

the leaves seem to change in colour daily.

These are from a line of trees in the street in my neighbourhood.

My favourite time for walks is late afternoon when the lighting is so beautiful

When green and orange-browns mingle

Down to the Mont Repos Park to see the new plantations.

The flowerbed is looking beautiful and the chrysanthemums in the big pots

will look wonderful when the tiny buds open.

I walk down to the park regularly.

A closer look at the lovely leaves

The hydrangea are still blooming

I really like the leaf decorated paving stones near the little park café under the chestnut trees.

These are just two of the many. They are all different.

Rich purple Asters in lovely contrast to the other autumn colours

The first chrysanthemum buds are starting to open

It seems to be a good year for berries

Their shiny bright colour makes me linger as I admire them on my walk

Leaves bob up and down in a slight breeze against the colourful blur of the background

After some night rain, a leaf still holds a tiny lake of rainwater in the shade

Tiny St. John's Wort wild flowers still bloom

Here is a larger version which is often planted on slopes in gardens 

Here are my favourite leaves of the month so far. I have used them for this month's header.

A collage of some of my much loved scenes as I went on my autumn walks.

30 Days of Compostion: 16-30

Day 16

What's leaving the frame?

Showing only part of our subject can be very intriguing

and I do very much like the expanse of negative space.

What's leaving the space on my embroidery scissors?

Day 17

Creating Depth

By setting my focus on the pebbles in the foreground,

I create depth on the blue and white material in the background.

Day 18

Create movement.

The fountain in the park creates the movement,

both in the stream of water coming down, the splashes

and the concentric circles.

More movement

This little family cycling in the countryside where I was walking.

The little fellow in the front was pedalling nineteen to the dozen!

Day 19

Perfectly aligned.

This doesn't only mean things all lined up in a row. 

The photographic example given was that of 'harmonious composition'

and how not to have conflicting elements in the frame which could make for confusing viewing.

I find that the whole scene of greens and that gentle blue sky work so well together,

but what I really like is the soft zig-zag of hedges leading us to a lone tree on the hill.

Also, if you look at the foreground of hedges and trees,

they lead our eye up to the small chalet in the distance.

Day 20

Deliberately discordant

In contrast to the image above, the fallen basket of yarn and odd crocheted samples

seems rather inharmonious.

Day 21

Square format

The square shape of this house in my neighbourhood

seemed to fit into the square format very well.

Day 22

Single focal point.

I set the focus on the geranium buds on my balcony

and allowed the leaves to provide a soft green background.

Day 23

Tiny subject

I think that this one is my favourite. I do love tiny things and this little crystal angel

seemingly flying through the air fitted so well into her sparkly, starry sky!

Day 24

Complementary colours.

On the colour wheel, complementary colours are those opposite each other

like red and green above.

More complementary colours seen at my local Farmer's Market.

Green and red vegetables,

but also purple aubergines (eggplant) and purple chicory

and the complementary light and bright yellow of the peppers.

Day 25

Monochrome

Monochrome doesn't only mean black and white (or different shades of grey),

it can also means subjects and background in the same colour.

These are some yellow chrysanthemums taken on a background of  similar yellow material.

Day 26

Abstract

Meaning of abstract:

Relating to or denoting something that does not attempt to represent external reality,

but rather seeks to achieve its effect using shapes, colours and textures.

Day 27

Repetition

Plenty of repetition here with the steps themselves,

the repeated patterns of shadows and the railings.

Day 28

S-Curve

The curve in this path of the rock garden can be seen to form an s-curve.

Day 29

Eye Contact

The easiest way of obtaining this was by taking a self-portrait in a mirror in my home!

Day 30

Break the rules.

Some rules, like not having our main subject right in the middle of the frame,

can be easily broken when harmony is retained.

A country path,  right in the middle of the frame, flanked by trees, can create a harmonious image.

This is the last part of my 30 Days of Composition.

I have really enjoyed creating them.