The Hunger Games: The Exhibition : The Fashion

I don’t know about you, but The Hunger Games (books and movies) have been a big hit at our house for quite some time! The Hunger Games: The Exhibition has just opened up at the Palace of Fine Arts this past Saturday and since the kids are out of school for February break we went up to see for ourselves the film set recreations, the high-tech interactive installations and games …

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Cedar Waxwings in my Toyon

Cedar Waxwing 5 - Marie Cameron 2016

OK, the robins didn’t strip my toyon in one day, they had a little help… these cedar waxwings ate more that their fill. What exactly does it man to “Eat like a bird” anyway?                         As far as photography goes, the focus is a bit soft…but as reference material for my paintings…BINGO!

Spring Robins

Spring arrived on the mantle of a thousand beating wings. More reliable that a calendar, the migrating robins descended on my berry tree and stripped it bare in a single day (with the help of a few cedar waxwings). When my models show up, unannounced or not, I have to set everything else down and pick up the camera because blurry or sharp, these photographs will make excellent reference material for …

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Along the Novitiate Trail

Arbutus and Moss 3- Marie Cameron 2016

A little break in all the great rain we’ve been getting was the perfect chance to get my painter’s body moving! A hike up the Novitiate Trail, though a little muddy, was just the thing – and bringing my camera made it all the more fun. Inspiration can be so fleeting and it’s good to store it up for another rainy day!                  …

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Berries, Moss and Diagonals

Hiking again without my real camera….here are some iPhone shots of some intense reds and greens (complementary colors) I couldn’t resist even though these shots of berry trees are pretty low res.  I love the ground cover and moss growing on those raking diagonals and that up-tilted perspective – one of my favorite things in a scene I would choose to paint.  

Above Shark’s Tooth Cove

When I go to Shark’s Tooth Cove, one of my favorite beaches in California, I usually scamper down into the cove and nestle myself between the soaring cliffs and the pounding ocean. I am so in love with the keyhole tunnel and the dramatic sea stacks that I’m quite content, me, the resident ravens, the squads of patrolling pelicans and the occasion nude sunbather. This time I decided to explore …

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Seaweed Inspection

Over the holidays I wanted to go tide pooling to see if I could find any of the Hopkins’ Rose Nudibranchs that had been sighted along the coast …. sadly I picked a day when the low tides were both before sunrise and after sunset. Oh well, any day at the shore is a good day! One of my favorite spots is Shark’s Tooth Cove, in Davenport. It’s so secluded and …

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Townsend’s Warbler Atop the Camellias

With a little bit of patience on my part, the Townsend’s Warbler felt brave enough to come out of hiding – sweet little bird and well worth the wait.

Townsend’s Warbler Amid the Camellias

The Townsend’s warbler is a shy little thing and even with it’s bright yellow markings it can be very hard to see. Still, I was determined to get a few good shots that I could use eventually in my Birds & Teacups series.

Chrysanthemums – Adorn

While I briefly wore the chrysanthemum crown myself, I really had intended it for my favorite model. It’s SO much better on her!  I love photography but I also like to use photos like these as reference for future paintings, when my chrysanthemums are no longer in bloom. Here are some of the ones I like the most from the shoot: I adore how the chrysanthemum petals create a fringe-like …

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Crown of Chrysanthemums

The chrysanthemum season has come to a close. I decided to forgo the last of the season bouquet in favor of whipping up a chrysanthemum wreath in the last bits of sun before the oncoming rain. The mums are a long lived cut flower but their life fashioned into a crown brief but glorious!     Crowned – Queen Mum!

Chrysanthemum Teacups

Of course the reason I began growing chrysanthemums in the first place is so I could put them in a matching teacup! I found several that I loved, one was a Limoges cup and saucer from 1895 with fabulous gold orbs bordered in black, the other (c. 1900) a handpainted Bavarian cup and saucer signed by Helen (HKaub) Grossart. Even if I didn’t have the exact mums on hand I …

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Mums as Models

What a tangle of mums I have growing in my pots – quite literally, I had to be very delicate as I separated the spider mums from each other in order to shoot each flower on it’s own to really appreciate it’s individual form. Here are some of my favorites…  

Buddha’s Hands

This is the first year I’ve tried growing Buddha’s Hands and its just now starting to turn a lovely shade of yellow. If you’re not familiar with this fruit, it’s a citrus that perfectly echos the mudras of the Buddha. Mudras are spiritual gestures in Hinduism and Buddhism that convey or direct specific meaning and energy. The closed position, namaskaramudra imitates prayer. The open hand, or varadamudra symbolizes charity and …

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In the Camelias

The thirty year old camellia tree in my neighbor’s front yard may be the only thing blooming this time of year. It’s quite a show stopper and is attracting a lot of birds – even in the rain! I had to go over with my camera and see if I could get lucky – I did get a few shots of some birds but what I found myself enjoying even …

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Wet Yume

Wet day at the studio with my Yume camellia….  

Dream – Yume

My camellia Yume (which means dream in Japanese) just came into bloom. How lovely to have a flower that just gets going when the temperature dips! The pink camellia symbolizes longing in both Victorian and Japanese cultures, seems right to me!  

Dogwood Blushing

The dogwood outside my studio is glowing red now, by March it should be covered in lovely white blooms ….and of course I’ll be waiting with my teacup!!

Dragonfly and Demitasse

This golden dragonfly (Wandering Glider) I found dying in my foxglove from a wasp attack is a perfect example of a common decorative motif in the Aesthetic Movement. Dragonflies figured prominently in the jewelry and metalwork of the period not only as this insect was so successfully rendered in these mediums but also because it was a favorite motif in Japanese art which was having a strong influence in Western culture …

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The Dragonfly and the Wasp

Today I tried to save a dragonfly from a wasp in what turned out to be a mortal encounter. After shooing the wasp away, I picked it up from under the foxglove and took it to my studio. The dragonfly did not recover like I hoped it might. There were a few other arrivals to my studio today too.  I had won a few little religious books with a forget-me-not …

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