"Raindrops on Iris"

Hello Everyone!

Spring has been unusually rainy here in Connecticut. It wasn't just "April showers bring May flowers" but also "May showers ruin those flowers!"

I've noticed, in the last several years, that I am drawn to flowers that surrounded my parents' home when I was growing up. There, we had more iris than anything else -- and most of them had purple in them if they weren't completely one shade of purple or another. I loved them as a child and I appreciate them even more as a senior adult.

Lately I have been asking myself the general question of why am I so attracted to shooting flowers? Unlike the well known flower photographer, Kathleen Clemons, (who just happens to live in my beloved home State of Maine!), I don't start out to make portraits of the flowers I shoot.

Well, of course, I am attracted to flowers because of their natural beauty, but it is more than that. The blooms I shoot are at the height of their lives! They are, in Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, self-actualized. They are all they possibly can be at that point.

Yet there is more. Flowers attract me also because they imply the cycle of life. I have long thought about shooting flowers in the various states of their decay -- which would much more clearly demonstrate my interest in that part of reality, too. Will I do it? I am not yet sure.

While I try to figure that out, I invite you to enjoy the raindrop covered purple iris below. Be sure to click on the image to see its detail more clearly.

Raindrops on Iris

For more images, be sure to visit my website: jeanhendersonart.com

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Spring, War and Psanki

The official arrival of spring brought an early Easter for Christians this year. Hindus celebrate their New Year in early April with the Sikhs celebrating their harvest and New Year on April 14. My Jewish friends celebrate Passover beginning on April 22, but Muslims must wait until early June for Ramadan. 

All these religious observances. Yet our world is plagued with violence more than ever it seems. Not just in other parts of the world either. Talk is now surfacing about an open gun carry for the Republican Convention in July out of fear of an ISIS attack. Where will it all stop? Will it ever?

I really don't know. 

What I DO know is that art restores the soul. Given the ugliness of so much violence in so very many places in our lives, I choose to create art. No, I MUST make art! Without it, I would not be able to live in today's world. 

Ah, am I wearing blinders, you ask? Not at all. Instead of focusing on the over abundance of negatives, I choose to fill my life with more positives. More to seek balance than not to see.

Rebeccah Doggett made these Ukrainian styled Easter eggs.

No matter what the news brought to you today, how can you not be uplifted by the site of these eggs decorated Ukrainian style? A folk art it is called, yet, still, our spirits rise with joy at the delightful designs and colors after even a mild winter. 

Unless, of course, you have just lost a loved one to war or other tragedy. I think we need a re-enactment of the Greek play Lysistrata where the women withheld sexual favors in order to stop war, the hatred, the violence. Or, at least, a whole lot more folks could follow the recent example of Pope Francis on Holy Thursday when he washed and kissed the feet of a wide variety of refugees.

Where do you stand? Comment below.

Jean Ann Henderson is a fine art photographer, which means she makes photographs for herself rather than for clients. Go to her website to learn more.

Spring Has Finally Sprung -- Again!

The crocus are up along the driveway at long last! Please vote for your favorite in the comments section below.

Windswept and Still

More of the Crew

Playing coy

The Square Ones

Remember to tell me which one of these you like best by adding a comment below. I'd really appreciate it!

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