Observing nature and a reinterpretation -

"Stream and Stones at High Water"
digitally manipulated fractal collage by Mick Mather

At this time of year, walking outside - or even just looking outside - to experience the air, light, heat, sun, rain and the changing of the season is a nice way to relax. Free flowing thought, influenced by the environment, flashes on and off with a variety of ideas and possibilities that will need to consider the sharp corners of recurring, urgent concepts that insist that I pursue them. For a number of years I've been interested in riparian restoration of a particular creek, my intervention being that of siting sculpture within the creek itself. Not a new idea, certainly, but one that continues to insert itself into my own consciousness. This post was created in response to much of this recent thinking.

Thursday Challenge: Texture -

"Texture"
photograph by Mick Mather

The theme is texture at Thursday Challenge this week. I'm thinking that I have the territory covered fairly well here - brick, stone, iron, light and shadow - where each element adds it's own unique diffuseness to the surfaces. The photograph is also submitted as is, none of the usual manipulation, filtering or layering. For a moment (scroll back over the last few days of posts in this blog), I thought I had also succeeded in stepping away from what some of my blogging pals have been referring to as creepy, horror movie imagery. Well, as I look at the old wrought iron gate, I can almost hear the creaking and screeching of dry hinges swinging ominously to and fro by an unseen hand! Careful with that axe, Eugene!