Wonderfulicious Wednesday

What? I haven't posted since mid June?

These days I mostly post on Instagram at @gailpe.

Dancing Leaves, above.

I have a penchant for decay and or withered botanicals. 

My gardener knows that if I have leaves on the patio table that

they're not to be cleaned up. Often, a leaf needs another day or

two of weathering.

I'm not sure which version of the Plumeria leaf I prefer. 

The leaf was so delicate that pieces of it started flaking off

before I got it into the house.

I created all of the backgrounds.

My guy planted a yellow hibiscus 8 years ago that hasn't grown much

over the years, in fact, it's shrunk and has nearly died a few times.

It rarely blooms. This year I severely cut back a red hedge

of hibiscus and fertilized them, a lot. The bushes have filled out

and bloomed like crazy. But until the last few weeks the struggling yellow bush

continued to look pathetic and then suddenly it started filling out and 

producing flowers. 

The macro above is unedited. I know, rare for me . . .

The center of the yellow hibiscus is spectacular! 

There is another yellow hibiscus in the yard, but it's 

center is yellow, nice, but a bit ordinary.

Continuing with my love of creating a series of images 

the Mexican Bird of Paradise bush started blooming  . . .

I only have one bush this year after the other one

drowned last winter when the pot didn't drain. 

Decayed flowers, above.

A single flower, sculptural, went through a variety of apps

to achieve the painterly/sketch effect.

When a bunch of flowers scatter

on the ground they become precious to me.

The above flower went through a few apps to give

it a painterly/sketch effect and then it needed a background.

The background was a long process of layering and layering and layering

textures and images. I imagine I'll use the background again someday.

And finally, a macro of the Mexican Bird of Paradise 

in all of its glory! This image is only tweaked a little

to bring out the texture and colors. 

I must have flowers, always, and always.

Claude Monet