April 2023 Calendar

Over springbreak we had a quick get away down to see the wildflowers at Picacho Peak and let me tell you, they are a beautiful sight to see! The blooms typically begin in late February or early March, depending on the rain that we have been getting, and can last through April. Arizona has been getting a lot of rain this year and so the wild flowers were blooming like crazy! Some of the most common wildflowers at Picacho Peak include lupine, brittlebush, California poppies, and even red ocotillo blooms. The wildflowers provide a colorful contrast to the green and brown hues of the desert landscape.

This month you get to bring a little bit of Arizona spring time into your room! Enjoy the lupines and California poppies!

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March 2023 Calendar

There is a park that I like to go running at after I drop off my kids at school. Late last summer/fall, after all of the wonderful monsoons we had, these exquisite flowers started to pop up. I didn’t recognize them by name and so I did a bit of googling and found out that they were Arizona poppies. Arizona poppies are not actually a poppy plant at all and are thought to be called that because of how they resemble the California poppy. Nonetheless, I love the discovery of different flowers and bright and cheerful they are. May this Arizona poppy brighten your screen throughout March on our journey toward spring!

Coming Home/A Garden Variety

How to Download

Save the calendar to your desktop by right-clicking and saving the image, or clicking and dragging the image to your desktop.

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February 2023 Calendar

Happy February! This month’s calendar features a photograph of an alsike clover flower. As I sit and look at an image for a long period of time I start to have memories of things that this image brings back up for me. I found that this image takes me back to childhood when you would race your friends in rolling down the hills covered in clover. It also reminds me of watching the sunset from a blanket while you are on a picnic. I can almost hear the birds singing a sweet tune. This is just one of the things that I love about photography, it can take you to many different moments. Is it just me or can you almost remember those exact moments as well when you look at this image?

The Point of Illumination/A Garden Variety

How to Download

Save the calendar to your desktop by right-clicking and saving the image, or clicking and dragging the image to your desktop.

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A Garden Variety

I have a giant love for flowers, which we all know by now, and though I started photographing flowers in a studio I loved the joy of getting to let it flow from in the studio, (abstract photography, dried flowers) and out into nature, and back to the studio again. I would spend most of my days outdoors if it were a real option, hiking out in nature, discovering great beauties all around us like wildflowers in the spring or the stunning beauty of our National Parks. So, I don’t know when to say I started working on the series A Garden Variety but it began from really feeling who I am deep down inside when I am out in the middle of nature. I think that is what we are all searching for, right, that feeling of knowing I am in the right place.

Unstoppable/A Garden Variety

Never knowing what types of flowers you will find while out exploring is yet another reason why I have enjoyed this series. All sorts of different flowers are found in different states and getting to capture a type of flower that doesn’t grow near you is an amazing opportunity!

Magnetic Calm/A Garden Variety

I LOVE photographing flowers outdoors and thinking about the experiences that came with those photographs. For example, last year I got to go for a hike with my cousin, a friend, and my family to see Showy Lady Slippers in Minnesota. These flowers are the state flower, and cannot be picked, so the only place to photograph them is right where they are. My cousin and friend knew right where to go and were delighted in getting to show the kids and me these spectacular flowers tucked just far enough away that if you didn’t know where they were you would go right past them! That trip and seeing those flowers is something that is a memory I love to revisit not only in my mind but looking back at the photos as well!

Blake Garden Ranunculus/A Garden Variety

January 2023 Calendar

Happy January! The holidays went way too fast! We have had lots of time to sleep in and a bunch of family time and now it is time to get back on the normal schedule. Last month I suggested a new series in the making for the calendar but it isn’t to the point where I want to show that work yet, so, I will continue to work on it until it is ready to share with you all.

January’s calendar features an Arizona poppy!

So Sweet/A Garden Variety

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Save the calendar to your desktop by right-clicking and saving the image, or clicking and dragging the image to your desktop.

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Showy Lady Slipper

You know that thing that you have wanted to do or that place that you have wanted to go? I got to check one of those things off the list this year. I am a note taker and I have about 20 places where I take notes, notebooks, scraps of paper, plain paper, lined paper, my arm….I think you get the idea! Anyhow, one note that pops up a lot in things that I dream of photographing is the Showy Lady Slipper in Minnesota. I was born in Minnesota and spent a lot of summers there growing up. 

This summer the kids and I got to go up in June. My cousin, Dawn, told me that the Showy Lady Slippers blooming late this year, as she and her hiking buddy, Gail, love to see them as well and had been on the lookout for them. We made plans to meet up that Friday and we would all head out to where they would often find the Showy Lady Slippers. We, Dawn, Gail, my dad, my kids, and I, climbed the small hill up to where the hilltop was covered, just covered, with so many plants that were dotted with the pink and white of the Lady Slippers. Honestly, you would think that I would have had my phone out to record the moment that I first saw them, but, I didn’t. I was so incredibly wrapped up in that moment but I just kept saying, “wow” over and over, while turning to see all of them.

So, I asked you, you know that thing that you have wanted to see or do? Well, I already told you, I got to do one of them. You know how sometimes after you have done that thing, that thing that you have been thinking about non-stop or planning forever, you can feel a little let down or like it didn’t meet your expectations? Well, this was not that way at all! My expectations were blown out of the water! I could have stayed there for a few hours, and in reality, I did have to go back because this isn’t an opportunity that will come along often, but I know that watching me photograph flowers can’t be all that exciting.

So, what did I learn from gettting to visit this beautiful location filled with flowers? My take away is that I need to keep making lists, telling people about the things on that list, (because how will anyone know what your dreams are if you keep them to yourself), and plan on completing the things you have written down!

A GIANT shout out to Dawn and Gail, my buddies, for helping me check this amazing experience off of my list! Thanks for waiting around while I took a lot of photos!

All About a Canvas Gallery Wrap

Viridian Skies/A Garden Variety
Photo Credit: Anne

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Have you wondered what canvas gallery wraps look like? I am a visual person and so I thought it might help to see a more detailed set up to show you just one of options that you have when ordering images.

Canvas gallery wraps are one of my favorite ways, but obviously I love them all, to display my work. I love these because the image is lifted away from the wall, giving it depth, and having no frame it allows the image to go right to the edge.

Canvas gallery wraps are printed on premium archival white poly-cotton blend matte canvas and wrapped around a 1.5” stretcher bar, and the back is finished with thick black paper. Canvas gallery wraps are ready to hang -- images sized 16x24 and smaller will have a saw tooth hanger, shown last image, and 20x30 and larger will have a wire hanger, shown in the second to last image.

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A Tiny Joy

What is something tiny that brings great joy? This is a question that I asked myself while I was sitting in the car waiting to pick up my kids. I was interested in challenging myself to think of something that brought me great joy. I chose a small item to think about something that could be often overlooked, however, held great significance to me.

There are some tiny little forget-me-not flowers (Myosotis scorpioides) that grow at our family cabin in Minnesota. Each year I am excited to go searching for these little guys and to photograph them. These blue blooms are so tiny and delicate.

These flowers bring great joy, not only because they are beautiful, but because they make me think of my parents. Way back when, before I existed, when they were dating they would write each other letters. My dad would often include a little forget-me-not in his letter to my mom. So these tiny flowers hold my attention, not only because of their beauty but also because of the part they played in my parents' relationship.

I challenge you to also think about this question, is there something tiny that brings great joy to your life? I would love to hear your story as well!

Getting her hands dirty!

Getting her hands dirty!

My little girl is the cutest little girl who loves pink, princesses, pink, mermaids, twirling as she walks, pink, and anything that can be considered girly. She is also the girl who will willingly covers her hands AND feet with paint to make art, makes mud pies, and can build and plant a garden with the best of them.

At the start of the pandemic, Violet decided that she wanted to build her own space for a garden. She picked out the place and cleared it on her own,  we then built the wall together and filled it up with fresh soil. She lovingly planted the seeds while each day she would go out to water, and check on her plants. Outside time was one of the things that kept us going at the beginning of the pandemic. That feeling of having your hands in the soil just really connects you with the earth and it gives a wonderful freeing feeling of not being on a computer all day.

These are her little hands, holding the delicate white flowers, covered in dirt while we explored the outdoors while we were camping. I love these extremes and that all of these different personalities are wrapped up in one feisty little girl! It is such a wonderful thing to know that she, and any of the rest of us, can love being more than one type of person!

In Quarantine

Throughout this quarantine time, I have found that there are things that I need, lots and lots of coffee (like is it noon yet so I can have my afternoon coffee?), and there are things that I don’t need as much as I once thought, like going to the store just to get out.  While I miss the freedom of just being out and doing my own thing I am finding joy hanging out in the backyard by myself and having a little bit of just me time.

I have come to believe that there are never enough flowers and plants in my life. As Arizona was starting the official quarantine I realized that many of my flowering plants weren’t actually flowering, and how during a time like this, where we would all be staying home together, that I would probably need a bit of a mental break and would really want flowers to photograph. Thankfully, the weather is still nice and there are many wildflowers that just popped up (my dad always calls those volunteers) in my backyard. In the evening I have been going out to photograph them in the beautiful golden hour sunlight.

This is what is getting me through this quarantine, flowers in the evening! What is getting you through this time at home? Are you leaning on previous skills and hobbies or are you learning something new?