Killing two birds with one stone...

as it is always important to be efficient (insert a little bit of sarcasm) I have combined the pictures of my mom's garden with the 4 week backlog " Year of Colour Challenge".

First a picture that combined all the colours (the gnome is for sky blue and I missed the gardening gene so I have no idea what any of the plants/colours are but I do see red/orange, wild strawberry and plum ish colours!)

but I also took some individuals as well...this is for "Plum" and Alexandra (my second cousin (ten years old)) helped me find my "sky blue" - the painted flowers
a poppy for "wild strawberry"a chance this is more "yellow orange than red orange but I really like this picture - notice how one of the petals is unruly - almost looks like it is licking its lips!) another "plum" picture
a picture of my dad's pond - he has 8 fish and sits out here every morning for a little peace and quiet.
I really do hope the gardening "bug" will catch up with me as I really have no passion nor talent for it. I can't even keep a house plant alive! but my mom and my dad(he builds the structures and my mom plants in and around them) have done an amazing job. They have been in the McKenzie Towne gardening tour and also a stop for inspiration for alot of their friends and mine! My mom actually grew the majority of these plants/flowers from seed! We don't have anywhere to eat in March/April as the dining room is filled to the roof with plants but it is all worth it when you see the finished product!

by request...

I may get fired...

from the year of colour photography challenge as we are now FOUR weeks behind! Kaeden was a big help and he randomly chose the following:

Week 17 - Wild Strawberry

Week 18 - Sky Blue

Week 19 - Plum

Week 20 - Red Orange

I am not sure if it will be possible to combine all 4 of these colours in one picture but take my slacking off as an extra challenge to be creative as possible and see if you can get any combination of these colours or do four different pictures - whatever you works for you - have fun with it! I look forward to seeing what we all come up with!

Green is...

backdrop to one of my all time favourite pictures. I have been working really hard at developing a personal "photographic" style and with this photo and the whole Fraser family photo shoot(prior post) I think I may finally be "getting" it. I study so many various photographers and always wonder if I should be using different equipment or processing my photo's more with photo shop etc or taking more classes or give up my day job to dedicate more time to my passion... and I am sure that I will continue to question until the day I hang up my camera - but hopefully it will just push me to be better at something I am truly passionate about!

Week 16 Colour is...

"Green is the prime colour of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises" ~ Pedro Calderon de la Barca

Red is...

my favourite photo shoot location
with my favourite model
sporting my favourite smile

Week 15 is...

RED

Personality Traits for this hue:

*hot* *energetic* *loud* *courageous* *powerful*

Crayon Trivia:
Hue Family - Red
Year Introduced - 1903

Blue is...

a tiny ray of hope on Sunday morning through the rain soaked windshield and a whole lot of hope that night! I promise when we do "sky blue" I won't do another sky picture...I really looked for something "blue" but I am always so inspired and happy when I see a little bit of blue sky trying to peek its way through the grey clouds so after what feels like 3 years of rain(yes, I know, a tad over dramatic because it is more like off and on for 3 weeks) - I just had to snap a picture of the first bit of blue I saw!

Week 14 is...

"Somewhere over the rainbow. skies are BLUE, and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true"

Also...I am excited to tell everyone that we have a new participant in our challenge - please go to Crystal's link http://muffyfamily.blogspot.com/ and see all of her great pictures - I am really impressed that she has completely caught up and was just waiting for me to announce the new colour! The only sad part is that she is only posting the pictures on her blog and is putting her comments on Facebook - as I am an anti-facebooker I will have to get Starr to let me know her comments as that is always my favourite part - Welcome Crystal!

If there is anyone else that would like to join in...please let me know

Silver is...

my saviours for boot camp
a relief from the torture chamber shoes I have been wearing for work.

I knew I was delayed in getting this picture done as I have been so busy lately and with being in Toronto for work this week my whole schedule has been thrown off and I have had a total lack of creative focus - so when I was bent over in agony with a complete and total lack of breath...trying so hard to not throw up at the hardest boot camp workout yet I noticed my shoes and was "aha" perfect, even though they have black and white the majority is silver and a perfect reflection of my current reality!

Week 13 is...

Every silver lining has a cloud.

~Mary Kay Ash

Year of Colour UPDATE

Starr has brought to my attention that I am not a very good counter! Something my dad is nodding in agreement to as he read this!

I have miscounted the weeks of our challenge - WE ARE NOW IN WEEK 13

~ for you of those that are following along here is a list of our past colours:

Week 11 and 12 - Brown and Lavender
Week 10 - Dandelion
Week 9 - Robin Egg Blue
Week 8 - White
Week 7 - Chestnut Brown
Week 6 - Black
Week 5 - Apple Green
Week 4 - Pink
Week 3 - Orange
Week 2 - Indigo
Week 1 - Yellow

Brown and Lavender is...

a tough week... I looked high and low for a brown/lavender combo and no luck! I had to take matters into my own hands and created the following picture...this was thanks to my mom who has an incredible garden (more pictures to follow once it is at it's "peak" viewing condition!)

With permission I took a few chive flowers and added in one rustic brown birdhouse and ta da...

a few earlier attempts - lots of purple, very little brown!

Week Ten and Eleven

I apologize that we did not have a new colour this past week.

My lifeline(aka computer) seems to be up and working again so hopefully we are back on track!

As we are behind a week I thought we would have a "two colour" Challenge this week.

My hope is that we are going to be able to take a picture that illustrates the two colours together but if not two pictures will be fine.

The Double Trouble colours for this week will be: BROWN and LAVENDER

Week Nine Colour is...

Dandelion

Crayon Trivia:
Family: Yellow
Swatch:



Intro Year: 1990
Original Box: Box of 64
Personality Traits: Bright, Sunny, Radiant, mellow
** As you may have guessed, Kaeden wanted to choose this week - so another shade of Yellow is his "randomly"picked colour! **

Robin Egg Blue is...

a little teapot...short and stout, with a handle and a spout!

I painted this in 2005 at one of Starr's crafting nights at our local pottery place - brown and blue are one of my all time favourtie colour combo's(brown and pink is the other).

Week Eight Colour is...

Robin Egg Blue

Crayon Trivia
Family: Blue
Swatch:

Intro Year: 1993

Original Box: Big Box of 96

Personality Traits: serene, gentleness, sincerity

Fun Facts: Time seems to pass faster in a blue room or when we are bathed in blue light. Objects appear smaller and lighter. Because of these effects, blue, especially turquoise, is considered to be a good color for a room in which tedious work is done, such as a kitchen or laundry room.

White is...

peaceful.pure.heavenly.

Week Seven Colour is...

white!

This should be an interesting week as I think I am going to find it quite challenging! and after the picture of "wood" this week I really want to make this week a creative one!

Black is...

eyes I can get lost in...full of innocence and hope.