A Winter Palette

Winter colors are subtle. Enlarge this image to appreciate the delicacy of the pinks, grays, and greens.

Winter Foliage

I love that this plant already has its winter coat on.

Coffee

This is the latte you get at Open City. Beautiful AND yum.

The experiments begin…

Okay folks, would you like to see a silk shawl that looked something like this?

Inspiration

I've started to delve into the world of textile design. Needless to say, there's just a ferocious amount to learn. In getting started the main thing I'm doing is just absorbing as many visual ideas as I can cram into my head. I saw this silk at G Street Fabrics and thought it was pretty cool.

Impossible Color

This is another camera FAIL: the impossible iridescent purple-blue of this bicycle frame does not exist in its color gamut. Which is too bad, since the relentless rain and gloom that we've been subjected to here means we can use all the color-relief we can get.

On The Rail

Three birds between earth and heaven. These are from Atlantic City, about a month ago. I was looking through my photos and decided to bring them back for a bow.

Calligraphic Grasses

I can't read this writing, but I can appreciate the penmanship and the flourishes.

Gin & Tonic

Sometimes only an elaborately simple cocktail will do.

Too Red For The Camera

My iPhone's camera simply couldn't cope with this redness.

Rooted

Stability and tenacity: we call it being grounded.

Golden Spider Silk Tapestry

(photo R. Mickens/AMNH)

This is completely nuts and awesome in only the way something utterly extravagant and over-the-top can be awesome. They "silked" a million spiders to make this. (Supposedly it doesn't hurt them.) The color is not a dye, but natural to the fiber. Go learn more at NPR's All Things Considered or at the American Museum of Natural History.

Aging Gracefully

This one is more elegiac than pyrotechnical. I think a season of change calls for the occasional moment of melancholy.

Grass Waterfall

I have a soft spot for grasses.

Plumage

I heard an explanation on the radio (NPR, if you must know) of the change in leaf pigmentation. Apparently all those colors are always there, but they get drowned out in the photosynthesis. Or something. Honestly, I can't remember. But, hey, look at those leaves. Pretty cool, huh?

Move Over, Calder

Mama Nature's got you covered.

Flowers in Front

Because it rained for days and I couldn't take the gloom any more!!

Our Island Home

Another gorgeous space shot that I found courtesy of Wired.

Caution Door Opens

To me, this reads like a washed-out, forced-perspective Mondrian.

Lyric Pear

I was preparing this fruit for the juicer when I was struck by its sheer elegance. It puts me in mind of a lute or a cello.

Beautiful Symmetries

I am find generating these to be almost unbearably enjoyable.

I love this constellation of graphic shapes, and the flourish of the wire.

Vanishing Point

Sometimes we need to be reminded it's often a matter of perspective.

Mosaic

Glimpsed from my car window, autumn's jigsaw of color.

Every Day For Months

I've looked at these surfaces daily for a long time now. Today, they were lit just so and all of a sudden they were beautiful.

Dancing Lights

Tassels

Mortarboards and rope pulls get put to shame.

Wires at Sunset

The intersection of two clichés. I don't care: still beautiful.

Might as well…

…have something nice to look at while occupied with other business. Ladies Room wall at Raku in Bethesda.

Ready

The posture of this tree, leaning into the weather to come, is inspiring. It stands a little apart from its compatriots and it has an indomitable profile. I get the impression it's had something of a hard life thus far, but it's got a survivor's attitude.