Trees

I seem to be obsessed with the weather lately, as are so many others. Over the last couple of days I took a few cool pictures. the one above was about 7:30 AM  Monday morning. This picture does not show the depth and beauty of the sky that morning. This was facing northwest, the sun was behind me. I took a chance of being late for work that morning because I could not for the life of me let this go without pictures. I guess I took about 19 from different angles, the colors were unbelievable. I'm always disappointed with the pictures because I can't  feel them the way I can when I'm looking at the scene.

This one I took this evening, about 5:30, on my way home from work. This hill is in front of my house. The sky was dark, with these pockets of sunshine here and there. It seemed that everywhere I saw a good shot I couldn't get off the road. I finally got this one on the road I live on, which has practically no traffic and I stopped dead the road. At least most of the people driving on this road are neighbors, who would be tolerant of their "somewhat odd" acquaintance parked in the middle of the road. We're all used to people doing this to see the deer, anyway.

I have had an affinity for nature, and trees in particular, for a long time, I guess all my life. A few days ago I was working on a gourd and decided it was going to have a tree theme, and It occurred to me that the reason I was so in tune with them was that they are reaching  towards heaven. If you've ever been in a forest, you can see how the trees all grow up, reaching higher, their branches thinner at the bottom than the top,reaching for the sun. If something gets in the way of a branch it will strive to go around or through it to continue it's reach upward. As we reach towards the Son, and the Father.
The next day, I read a blog post by Phyllis Ducey of pfdoriginal artworks on the Etsy CASTteam blog.
It brought me full circle, not only the reaching branches but the roots that anchor us and keep us steady and continually growing.

I know that a lot of places are a lot colder, with a lot more snow than we have here in Virginia, but I sure am tired of it already.There seems to be a layer of ice and snow that just won't go away. It's been too darn cold for it to melt any. We've had a lot more snow than we usually have by this time of year, and colder earlier, too. It reminds me of the winters we had when I was a kid,which has been a few years ago. Quite a few.(don't ask.)
I've been working on a couple of projects with a new design, I almost have them finished so I'm excited about that. I'll post the to my Etsy shop as soon as I've finished them. Sometimes it takes me a long time to finish something, I'll set it up and keep looking at it until I have an idea what will make it complete. .
Here's part of my "studio" (which is also my storage, junk and exercise room and is converted to a bedroom when my grandkids come to visit.)
I'm the type who has everything thrown around me while I work, where I can reach it if I want it.
This is quite a bit neater than usual.
Everything gets put in boxes and under tables when the conversion to bedroom happens.

















These are items that are "glued up" waiting for the glue to dry. I found that sugar, rice, and popcorn in bags make good weights to hold things where I want them while they dry.






This is my light tent for photos. It cost a total of about $20.
Tablecloths from a clearance table for $4 each and a plain
white sheet give me a choice of how much light to let
through. Clip-on lamps I already had and GE Reveal 100
watt bulbs. Works great for a shoestring budget.