Cold Pond

Posted on by Spyder Webb

Cold Pond FAA

Brrrr…

But it’s not frozen over. This is a normal part of the transition. Cold, warm, snow, warm again, fierce cold winds, gentle soft breezes.

The trees didn’t give up and fall over because it snowed after a few lovely warm days. OK, they turned blue with the cold, but they’ll get over it. It’s  just how things happen when you’re moving from one season to another. Yeah, it can be smooth and easy and gradual, but life’s more likely bumpy and lumpy. Like real mashed potatoes (not the flakes that come in a box!).

Two steps forward, one step back. Or three or four or five back. But eventually, the forward momentum can’t be stopped. It’s the nature of… well, nature.

This image is from my gallery, Out Here in the Country — check it out when you get a chance because you’ll get to see the full resolution image in all its detail. Just go here. 

Pushing Through the Roses

Posted on by Spyder Webb

Pushing Through the Roses FAA

Pushing Through the Roses

They’re not so pretty, all by themselves, although they do have a beauty of their own. Not so flashy. Not so showy.

Pushy?

Well, yes. But in a way that actually complements the roses, and makes them both more than either alone. What they do seem to have is a solid self confidence. They’re confident in their plainness. Confident that it’s just them being completely themselves that makes everything better.

Assertiveness training through flower arranging. Who’da thunk?

This image is from my gallery, Xtreme Florals — check it out when you get a chance because you’ll get to see the full resolution image in all its detail. Just go here.

Last Fall This Spring and Always

Posted on by Spyder Webb

Last Fall This Spring and Always FAA

Easy, give yourself a sec to get used to the perspective of this picture.

OK. Now, then:

Last falls’s brown leaves with this spring’s green shoots. And of course, the eternal stones. No, not the band!

Well, there you have it. The essence of the vast experience that is life on earth in one photo.

What, you were expecting more words? Well, you know… sometimes more is actually less. Shhhh…

This image is from my gallery, Out Here in the Country — check it out when you get a chance! To see a full resolution image of this digital artwork in full detail please go here.

Red Earth Blue Sky

Posted on by Spyder Webb

Red Earth Blue Sky FAA

Look at them — opposites that need each other. The hot red longs for the cool blue. The sky, welcoming the warmth, nourishes the earth. The Yin and the Yang. The male and the female.

But more.

The free flow of thought and ideas, not held down, floating soft and free, and the passionate yet solid, firm and grounding counterpoint.

Look at what happens when the trees, the link between the two, feather out into the sky and create something new in that roiling energy where they come together, that birth of purple which is neither yet both.

Like a synapse with dendrites tickling into a new thought, a new sensation, a creative leap.

Hey, you gotta let ‘em leap, you know.

This image is from my gallery, Out Here in the Country — check it out when you get a chance! To see a full resolution image of this digital artwork in full detail please go here.

Gently in the Morning

Posted on by Spyder Webb

Gently in the Morning FAA

Easy now, no jarring alarm clocks today.

Just unfold and open yourself to the new day’s light. Stretch. Slow now, there’s no rush.

How long does it take to wake up this way? Does it add another minute to your prep time? Five?

Seriously. How do you want to set yourself up for the day? A moment of panic, jolting your body out of bed, trying desperately to cram ten pounds of activity into a five pound schedule? What do you think this does to your mind and your spirit?

What difference might it make to your day to remember these flowers and allow your body to unfold and smile the new day into being?

Sure, I know. But you can probably do it sometime. On a weekend. On your birthday. You might like the way the day goes so much you’ll start to make it a priority.

Yeah, I know it’s ten pounds of potatoes and a five pound bag. Just go with me on this.

This image is from my gallery, Xtreme Florals — check it out when you get a chance! To see a full resolution image of this digital artwork in full detail please go here.

A Place to Rest

Posted on by Spyder Webb

A Place to Rest Small

Come on in and meditate.

Doesn’t it look like you could just snuggle in and feel all safe and cozy and one with everything? (No jokes about the Dalai Lama and the hot dog vendor, please!)

So here’s the thing: you just need a little opening, a crack in the world, to send yourself into if you’re going to journey to another realm, and these flowers are as good a place to dive in as any. Just imagine yourself (remember imagining?) floating in behind the petals and the tendrils and let your very capable imagination take you deep into the magical lands of Spirit.

Patience, gently now…

Oh, did I mention that “imagination” is not the same thing as “pretend”? Although you can start by pretending, (kind of like priming a pump) “imagination” is actually a western misnomer for “eyes of the soul.”

Just as real as the optical variety, you know.

This image is from my gallery, Xtreme Florals — check it out when you get a chance! To see a full resolution image of this digital artwork in full detail please go here: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/a-place-to-rest-spyder-webb.html

Look at Me, No ME

Posted on by Spyder Webb

Look At Me No Me Small

They’re all lovely, aren’t they? And yet, like children, they each want to be the center of attention.

Or better yet, the center of affection.

It’s funny how each is concerned only with itself, yet together they make the most wonderful ensemble. Something worth thinking about when we’re told not to think of ourselves and our own wants and desires, isn’t it? If each member of this community didn’t make a priority of being the most magnificent being they could be, where would the community be?

Well not in this photo, anyway.

This image is from my gallery, Xtreme Florals — check it out when you get a chance! To see a full resolution image of this digital artwork in full detail please go here.

Morning Light

Posted on by Spyder Webb

Morning Light FAA

A bright cool morning is flooding our flower friends with the promise of so many possibilities — and in their astonishing variety, the flowers are returning the favor, reaching out in their eager dance of life. They look like a bunch of kids about to be let loose for recess, don’t they?

But each day not only gives us the gift of a fresh start, in all the new paths it puts before us to explore, the day itself is also excitedly anticipating the gifts that we will bring to it. It lays itself completely wide open before us, giving itself totally to us with its new energies, its weather, its events, people, and it waits, not knowing, vulnerable, for what we will do with it. We’re not at the mercy of what the day will bring, it’s actually the other way around.

What fun to begin a new day — what gifts will it bring us? And what gifts will we bring to it?

This image is from my gallery, Xtreme Florals — check it out when you get a chance! To see a full resolution image of this digital artwork in full detail please go here.

Honey Dipped

Posted on by Spyder Webb

Honey Dipped FAA

I look at these flowers and I can’t help but think of honey and butter rolled up in a warm tortilla, oh my!

That’s one my favorite sensual joys. I’m sure you have yours that are pretty awesome too. But you know, I never had to have yucky food to be able to appreciate yummy food. Yummy food is immediately yummy without needing to reference anything else but its own yumminess.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

It’s a spiritual cliché that if we didn’t know pain, how would we know pleasure, if we didn’t know the bad, how would we know the good?

I’m not buying it, and I think you can see from the example above (I’m sure you can think of a few choice ones of your own) how quickly that’s shown to be B.S. — Berry Silly. (mmmm, berries!)

Not that we can’t learn from suffering, because we obviously can, and not that I wouldn’t appreciate a good honey and butter burrito even more if I had to eat mud burritos for a few days.

The point is, it’s kind of offensive and patronizing to cite this particular bit of nonsense as some kind of sensible or comforting answer. Though I’ve been tempted to use it myself when I didn’t have any good answer for suffering. As if there was one.

And to think this all started with a picture of some flowers…

Some of which are good to eat also!

This image is from my gallery, Xtreme Florals — check it out when you get a chance! To see a full resolution image of this digital artwork in full detail please go here.