Banana flower

Banana flower, originally uploaded by Telzey.

In a break between storms last week, I ran into the back yard to shoot a banana flower which had just opened -- something I've been trying to do for 5 years. This beauty is just under 30 inches across! As the golden florettes develop into bananas, the petals turn a deep maroon, almost black, before falling off -- then the next set of petals open. One flower like this will produce at least 15 bunches of bananas -- resulting in lots of banana bread ;-)

This isn't a photomanipulation. All I did was crop the image and add a vignette. The magic was all in the incredible light between rain storms.

Life in Balance

Balance, originally uploaded by Telzey.

Ikebana is a disciplined art form which draws emphasis toward shape, line, form. It has certain rules governing its form. The artist's intention behind each arrangement is shown through a piece's color combinations, natural shapes, graceful lines, and the usually implied meaning of the arrangement.

The structure of a Japanese flower arrangement is based on a triangle delineated by three main points, usually twigs, considered in some schools to symbolize heaven, earth, and man.

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Adding the texture: After some initial clean-up, I darkened my image slightly using a silvery black and white adjustment layer. Next came my Bending Light texture, Khartouom, applied as an overlay at 100%. A layer mask was used to bring back some detail. Then, I duplicated that layer and applied it as a Linear Burn at 50%, 80%.

Further post production used photoshop filters, a bit of pouting, and a cup of Kona. Life is good. Hopefully, I'll figure out how to share some textures soon.