Eve Of The New Year - 2011

Resolutions anyone ? I have one I know I can keep ... to continue looking up. May your New Year take you to new places. And may it also bring awareness of the beauty surrounding you right where you are. Blessings to you, yours, and all people. Love to our creatures, great and small. Love from The Prairie. And love from the world at http://www.skyley.blogspot.com

Dream Weaver ...

Last summer I began nesting out on the property around our buildings. I have collected many fine things over the years and have never ditched anything I've treasured that I was certain would be timeless according to me.

As a result, here on The Prairie it's a mixture of many things from my many adventures. At the Hen House it's a Moroccan window grill from Surroundings on Sunset Boulevard/Houston. It became a curtain backdrop to an old beautiful door that I drug off of the junk pile at the Apple Inn B&B here on Kemp Avenue during the Fall Clean Up Weekend.

I never dreamed that it would look so pretty this winter. I just knew.

Sky Watch Christmas Eve ...

The sun setting behind Lake Kampeska on a very cold evening ... Merry Christmas. Check out Christmas skies around the world at http://www.skyley.blogspot.com

Ice Candles 2010 ...

I am an artist. I have time on my hands. I am dangerous.

My photographs are in the Birch Tree Gallery here on Main Street. And I create night lights with my photographs, using a process called DyeNamic Infusion ... those are in Houston at the gallery of Joan Son. I was not planning this. 2010 has been a great year for Laurie On The Prairie.

These days I am a winter artist of ice, ice candles, icicles and snow. This is a harnessed creativity that will carry me to warmer temperatures. It's free style loosie goosie and it's taking place on my deck.

You can bet your sweet bottom, southern or otherwise, it's cold out there. And art has no temperature gauge. It doesn't get cold. Art happens around the conditions. It's like pulling off a gravel road, laying down in a ditch, and crawling around to capture a cloud. It's art. It's me. I'm giving it my full attention.

I Watch The Sky ...

I took a road trip to Brookings early this morning. I had my nails done, first things first, then took a walk through McCrory Gardens. This is a formal garden honoring Professor S.A. McCrory, founder of the SDSU Horticulture, Forestry, Landscape and Parks Department in 1947. McCrory Gardens is unique and harmonious ... ohmmmmmmmmmmm. Check out http://www.skyley.blogspot.com and see where another's Sky Watch Friday photo efforts lead you.

Shelter Belts 101 ...

Here on The Prairie we have Shelter Belts. Long, straight and beautiful rows of trees planted around the edges of fields and farms ... They break the wind and prevent snow from drifting onto roadways and into Farm yards.

Here on my piece of The Prairie, I have two Shelterbelts of my very own. Both strategically planned for the north and west sides. They provide an incredible habitat for my Deer, Pheasants, Ducks, Geese, Rabbits, Fox, Wood Chucks and Birds galore. I love Shelter Belts ... and I am continually drawn to mine and all of my prairie neighbor's as I roam along with my camera.

And after I pull my photographs up in Photo Shop I am drawn in once again. It was very pretty just as it was last night ... but this is what I want you to see this morning. Have yourself a merry little weekend.

Hey Houston, Problem Solved ...

... If it's about your Christmas list. The blue night light in the shot is one of many that I made for JOAN SON's Christmas show and sale this weekend. Joan is an Artist of Origami and her Gallery is behind Anderson Fair at 904 Welch. You can visit and/or shop on Friday 12 - 8, Saturday 10 - 6, and Sunday 12 - 6. Eight Artists are participating in this annual event ... Merry Christmas from all of us.

I Would Like To Explain ...

But I am not certain that I should.

Mary on Sky Watch Friday ...

From Her perch along the Interstate, somewhere between there and here, Mary watches the World ... and She has Peeps at http://www.skyley.blogspot.com who are watching too.