Nifty Piks – Photos and Art

A Northwest landscape of fields and trees, created using glazes of watercolor for rich color.

Seattle landmark: the Space Needle.

On a vacation through the southwest region of England, I came upon this charming town of Mousehole where many friendly cats lived.

Orchid painting commissioned for a home in Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Dancers is the Seattle dance community moving through waltz, tango and foxtrot steps.

Dancers moving through a waltz.

The tulip fields in Skagit Valley, north of Seattle, provide a colorful landscape for bike riding. This image was used as a wine label for NW Cellars 2006 Sauvignon Blanc as part of the bicycle wine series.

Seattle view from the Fauntleroy neighborhood overlooking the water, park and ferry dock

Pike Place Market in Seattle offers colorful displays of fresh produce.

The tulip fields of Skagit Valley, north of Seattle, create vibrant patterns in spring.

From the south of France in Provence comes this periwinkle blue door, the typical color for the shutters & doors of the region. This color harmonizes beautifully with the golden limestone that is the building material of this part of France.

Abundant displays of lavender are found at many of the lavender farms on the Olympic peninsula of Washington in mid-July.

Tulip fields of Skagit Valley, north of Seattle, form colorful, quilt-like patterns

With the Olympic Mountains as a backdrop, the town of Sequim is well known for its lavender. This fragrant herb thrives in the rain shadow of the mountains and provides colorful vistas to all who visit.

North of Seattle, Washington, bulb growers plant large fields of tulips - creating vivid landscapes for all to see.

An aerial view of geranium leaves - showing the infinite variety available.

From the Purple Haze Farm in Sequim, this view of lavender fields interspersed with yarrow makes a stunning landscape.

On Washington state's Olympic Peninsula, the city of Sequim has become well known for lavender farms. In mid-July, the fields are awash in purple and pink lavender plants.

A very horizontal view of the pastures along side tulip fields of Skagit valley, Washington.

Farmhouses frame rows of tulips in the bulb-growing region of Skagit valley in the state of Washington.

Tulip fields create vivid stripes of color in the Skagit Valley, north of Seattle, Washington.

The Conservatory at Volunteer Park in Seattle houses many exotic plants.

Seattle's old district

In downtown Seattle, Pike Place Market provides fresh fish, produce & other homemade items.

Here is a typically Pacific Northwest scene - a ferry transporting passengers to the many islands.

Ferry boat on the Puget Sound in the Pacific Northwest

A view anyone from the Pacific Northwest would recognize: Mt Rainier

A bouquet of bright anemones in an old fashioned bottle focus the viewer's attention on their simplicity & color contrast.

A friend's garden yielded these beautiful, floppy sunflowers. Their size and brilliance light up a summer afternoon.

These Angel's trumpets (Brugmansia species) look so great against the blue wall in this fabulous Oklahoma garden. Photograph by Betty Mackey.

Callicarpa berries line up on a branch, from mature white to still-green clusters, looking so trim and composed. Nature will do that sometimes. Photograph by Betty Mackey.

An evocative layering of photos I took at the memorial for victims of the Oklahoma Federal Building bombing.

A bouquet for your wall, a rustic vase of sunflowers grown in Oklahoma's warm and sunny weather.

Garden art, a metal sculpture photographed near Oklahoma City. So cute for a card or for a child's room.

This warty blue pumpkin adorning an Oklahoma garden would make a nifty fall harvest for your restaurant or kitchen wall.

Cool off a bit in this handmade metal chair painted wine red and surrounded by shade-loving plants.

This is one super cowboy, stationed in front of the horses with a tin can for a hat and a bulletproof vest made of scrap metal. It's a handmade metal sculpture at the Stout ranch in Oklahoma. The horse is real.

So colorful it appears to be painted, the red and yellow sunflower in this photograph struts its stuff in a cutting garden, with the great blue Oklahoma sky for a background.

White chrysanthemums are beautiful flowers...not big, not expensive...but abundant and pretty...and a sure sign of fall. These mums were found at a farm store on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

Valley of the Mums, chrysanthemums that is.

Golden chrysanthemums rise against the clear blue sky of an autumn afternoon on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

Pumpkins on a Diagonal

Amazing Maize or Indian Corn. Maize is a popular decoration for autumn holidays like Halloween and Thanksgiving. Colorful and long lasting, Indian Corn is sold by farm markets all over. These ears of Maize were shot at a farm store along Rout 50 on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

Got your goat? This young Billy Goat is keeping an eye on the photographer, but not because he is afraid of people. This Billy want to see if anyone is headed near the food dispenser, in hopes of getting a treat. He is a resident of an Eastern Shore farm in Maryland.

This Billy Goat Gruff just might be giving you the eye from a rocky crag atop the high Sierras in the Wild West. Either that or he's watching for treats from a platform at a Maryland Eastern Shore farm. We'll have to go with the farm animal scene. But he did get a treat - and I got the shot.

~for a special friend who shines with inner light~ Despite adverse conditions, this azalea brings us joy by blooming out of season.

These heart-shaped leaves and petals give color to any garden.

Azaleas and sunshine--this will make the perfect accent for your hallway.

The fragrance of a yellow rose is as delicate as its velvet petals. This photo will be beautiful with both contemporary and romantic decor.

In April this red azalea bush is a fiery mass of blooms from head to toe.

This is like a splash of sunshine on the wall. That green speck on the petal is not a blemish--it's a tiny beetle trying to be invisible.

Shy, or still asleep? This gerbera has velvety petals as soft as a baby's skin.

Little bursts of garden sun for your mouth, these are lots of fun to eat. My granddad called cherry tomatoes "tommy toes". Perfect for your eat-in kitchen.

Some afternoons are so hot that the pepper plant allows its leaves to droop until, refreshed by the morning dew, it straightens back up. This pimiento looks great with or without a mat.

White amaranth has a wonderful texture. They are striking against their deep green foliage. In this photo you can also see the tiny white blooms within the fuchsia flowers.

This was taken at dusk.

These cheerful flowers remind me of red clover.