Spring Gallery
Spring
Spring in Wisconsin is full of contrasts...warmer one day and back to the long underwear the next.
Hearing the sound first overhead, sandhill cranes are back with their unearthly trumpeting gabble. (Geese are here year round.) New leaves on trees unfurl into a delicate, lacy green, warmer in tone than in full summer.
The sky is especially interesting when the light green leaves glow in front of clouds dark with oncoming rain.
Caught wandering, the dogs and I sometimes have to race the coming front from the woods or marshes back to the farm. The ground is dark with moisture, marsh grasses stand tall and light gold amid the wetness.
Crabapple and pear blossoms are fleetingly beautiful, they peak and then with the wind they are gone....and who says dandelions are not lovely in their own way?
Farmers are doing field work and planting their crops, always a gamble as no one controls the weather. I love it as it means that I can put my snowsuits away, finally, and can take off heavy boots. But spring is also known as mud season. The dogs get filthy in the marsh and all the muddy puddles. It's a fight to keep mud out of the house!
Summer Gallery
Summer
Summer is very green here, at least when there is no drought.
Early on, knee high corn fields wave narrow leaves, crowding each Triptychs for the sun. This is a land of barn swallows swooping, catching mosquitos; queen anne's lace, daises and blue chicory flowers flourish in the heat.
Summer here is delicious, corn fields are incredibly sweet smelling. Gardens put vegetables on the table that taste nothing like those that have traveled across the country. Flowers are rich in color, their shapes in the green around them are stark. Summer is rich in colors, but moisture in the air can make the distance look blue.
Like Triptychs warm places, Wisconsin heat can be tiring, it's not a dry warmth. It can be so hot that you can't sleep at night for the humidity and temperature. Woe to those without an air conditioner. Then one looks forward to fall.
Fall Gallery
Fall
Fall, of course, is a good bye to swimming in the backyard pool. At first, it is still green, but interspersed with green is burgundy, russet and gold.
Corn fields start browning from the bottom up, like a brown scarecrow with a geen hat decorated with dark brown tassels. Soon the swallows leave. But the mosquitoes remain.
The dying leaves also have a wonderful smell in the woods, once you smell it you don't forget it. Walking on the fallen leaves in the woods makes a crunching sound.
I start looking for my winter clothes that have been stored in barrels.
Harvest time is extremely busy, tractors and equipment needs to be gone over for repairs, crops have to be harvested and processed or stored. The days are cooler, of course, it is an almost perfect time, if winter was not just around the corner.
Winter Gallery
Winter
It's a time of loss but also a promise; the sandhill cranes are gone, leaves have fallen, the land is resting. If your decor is in a subtle palette, winter may be for you.
Despite the snow and ice, work still has to be done even though everything is more difficult. Heavier boots make my legs tired when walking. Sometimes mittens can't be worn and my fingers freeze until I can put them back on.
But corn fields can still look lovely; lonely sentinels stand tall above the snow here and there where harvesting was incomplete. Stalks are golden against the white of the snow.
Winter has its own beauty and color palette, more subtle than Triptychs seasons. The glistening white of snow, the light gold or light red-tan of marsh grasses, the burgundy of red willow, the brown of bark, the dark green of the evergreens can be breathtaking, especially combined with ever changing sky colors. And when ice crystals form on branches and evergreens, lit by the sun, that is a treat for the eye. Without the snow, everything is muted.
Animals and More Gallery
Animals and More
I don't have many pieces showcasing animals, but of course, the dogs star in a good number, though not specifically in the animal category. Suffice it to say that I seize every opportunity to capture these subjects in all their moods as often as I am able. This is a Nicaraguan pig looking away from his litter mates and out into the world. He looks dreamy.
People Gallery
People
People in cities, especially those working in tall buildings and offices, may have no idea of what it's like to be outside doing manual labor under skies both bright and warm or frozen and windy.
The subjects here are repairing their Pontiac Fiero, unlike most cars the motor is in back. There is no substitute for being up close and getting hands dirty. Someone small can hold a wrench!
I have captured people doing many different jobs, I hope you find them as interesting as I do.
Black and White Gallery
Black and White Gallery
I love the drama of black and white and duotone.
Triptychs
Triptychs
Some things are meant to be shown together. Learn more.