Dahlia Season

Dahlia Season...It's here and the flowers are as big and beautiful as last year.  Here's the start of dahlia portraits.  Two very different dahlias with different treatments.  


The first is like an exquisite wedding dress.  Each petal in the centre is folded like some expensive silk handkerchief.  As the petals mature, these folds disappear into gorgeous curls that open up into beautiful spirally tubes.  I chose a colour treatment that would make this white dahlia look like an antique white silk.

This second portrait pays homage to water lily dahlias.  I haven't been able to shoot my own water lilies, as the racoons buzz the top of the flower petals each time one comes close to blooming, and it's not nice enough for a traditional floral portrait, nor funky enough for something on the pop art side.  So here's my water lily portrait, with a deep blue ocean in the background to this lovely pink and green water lily dahlia.

Spring Awakenings!

I see flowers everywhere I go and thought I'd give you 2 great examples.

On Saturday I was on Bloor Street West shopping.  I caught this Ranunculus out behind a fruit and vegetable store before they took the rack to the front for sales.

Then on Sunday I was in Plantworld.  It is a wonderful garden centre and nursery in my neighbourhood.  It's grown over the 25 years I've lived here in the Kingsway/Sunnylea area.  I  got this beautiful little Grape Hyacinth (Muscari) in the lovely afternoon light.