You can't have rainbows... without the rain.

Happy New Year! I hope you can look back on 2012 without regret and forward to 2013 with hope.

The past 2 years have left me feeling a little bruised and battered but I have learnt that I am stronger than I ever knew. I can dig deeper than I ever thought and even on dark days there is beauty and miracles waiting to be found. There's a quote I read once that said 'You can't have rainbows...without the rain.' I don't know who said this, but how true it is!

I only have one resolution this year and that is to live a moment of each day.  By that I mean to really live it. To smell the bark on the eucalyptus tree, to notice the starry night, to hear the noises of nature and to see the beauty in small but amazing things. I am not going to aim for a photo a day or to set my self a goal of trying new art techniques. I won't resolve to doodle or draw or paint. I simply want to take a moment to breath and live a moment of each day.

First treescape of 2013.

 I am sure I will never tire of looking up at trees, in particular this eucalyptus tree. My moment today was the moment I noticed the sap. Jewel red, glistening in the sun and so small on this huge tree. Just for moment I could see and hear nothing else. How sweet that was.

Best wishes to you all my blogger friends, thank you for your comments and support. I look forward to spending 2013 with you.

Treescapes

I'm not sure if "treescapes' is actually a word but I thought it to be an approprate title for this post anyway!
We had a lovely day/night/morning camping at McLaren's Falls and as I hoped I was able to get out and about with my camera. I took some 'treescape' photos as well as many others! One of the highlights for me was the songs of the many birds in the area, waking up to the morning chorus of the birds hearing the night calls of prey birds like the native NZ Morpork (owl family) and NZ Falcons. What a great way to start the day! Kiwi live in the area we camped but unfortunately I didn't detect any of their calls.Maybe next time:)

The bark peeling on the big ol Bluegum Tree is art in itself and I was also excited to find the ruby red sap 'bead' on the trunk. I was looking for gum on the trees I saw thanks to the inspiration I got from the Ning 'Art from the Heart' groups Organic challenge. I've never really notice sap before!

 Click the photos to enlarge them. You can also check out this Ning group by clicking on the new badge in my sidebar.

All of the above photos were taken of different parts of this tree and I collected fallen bark from it's base to bring home. I hope to turn it into a powder form and learn how to use it's natural colour for creating pigments to paint with. I will keep you posted:)