Under the Flowering Trees. Flame tree (Brachychiton Acerifolius), Date Palms (Phoenix dactylifera), Oleanders, Rosewood (Tipuana tipu), Parkinsonia aculeata (Jerusalem thorn), Trumpet vine (Campsis radicans), Purple Jacaranda, Albizia julibrissin (Persian silk, Pink silk tree), Pink Rose of Sharon, Bauhinia variegata (Camel's Foot Tree, Mountain-ebony), Silk floss tree (Palo borracho / Ceiba speciosa), Lace-bark tree (Lagetta lintearia), Lagunaria patersonii (cow itch tree), Purple Bougainvillea, Koelreuteria paniculata (Goldenrain tree), Lagerstroemia indica (Crape myrtle), European Redbud or Judas tree (Cercis siliquastrum).

One of the most pleasant things you can do on a hot summer day is lie in a hammock or on the grass under the flowering trees scenting the air with their blossoms, enjoy their fragrance and watch the birds fly by high above in the sky.

Flame tree (Brachychiton Acerifolius) and Yellow-Legged Gull (Larus michahellis)
(© LightColourShade. All rights reserved)

Star Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides).

Star Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) aka confederate jasmine, and Chinese star jasmine is a species of flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae, native to eastern and southeastern Asia (Japan, Korea, southern China and Vietnam). A valuable perfume oil is extracted from the steam distilled or tinctured flowers and used in high end perfumery. In a dilute form, tinctured flowers are much used in Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai incenses, while bast fibre is produced from the stems.

Trachelospermum jasminoides (star jasmine) close-up. (© LightColourShade. All rights reserved)

Freesia fucata, Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica), Melia azedarach (white cedar, chinaberry tree, bead-tree, Cape lilac, syringa berrytree, Persian lilac) flowers

Freesia is a genus of herbaceous perennial flowering plants in the family Iridaceae. It is native to the eastern side of southern Africa, from Kenya south to South Africa.



Freesia fucata flowers. (© LightColourShade. All rights reserved)



Little Egret (Egretta garzetta garzetta) and Common Grasshopper Warbler (Locustella naevia)

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta garzetta) snapping fish
(© LightColourShade. All rights reserved)

Clouded Yellow (Colias croceu), Large / Cabbage White (Pieris brassicae)

Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus) is a small butterfly of the Pieridae family. The upper side is golden to orange yellow with a broad black margin on all four wings and a black spot near the centre forewing. The underside lacks the black borders and is lighter, with a more greenish tint, particularly on the forewings. Females differ from the males in having yellow spots along the black borders on the upper side. Like all Colias species they never open their wings at rest.

Clouded Yellow (Colias croceu) on Dittrichia viscosa (False Yellowhead) flower. (by-nc-nd)

Whorled Plectranthus (Plectranthus verticillatus) Flowers

Plectranthus verticillatus, aka Swedish ivy, Swedish Begonia or Whorled Plectranthus, is a plant in the family Lamiaceae (Labiatae). Plectranthus verticillatus is native to southern Africa, but is also naturalized in El Salvador, Honduras, the Leeward Islands, the Venezuela Antilles, the Windward Islands, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Hawaii as well as south-east Queensland and coastal areas of New South Wales in Australia. Plectranthus verticillatus thrives in indirect sunlight, likes to stay moist, responds well to pruning and can easily be rooted with cuttings. Apart from possessing significant ornamental value, there's a popular myth that this plant is a kind of mojo that attracts love and money into your home.

Plectranthus verticillatus (Swedish ivy, Swedish Begonia, Whorled Plectranthus) flowers. (© LightColourShade. All rights reserved)

Shield Bug (Codophila varia), Bush Cricket (Platycleis sabulosa), Green Veined White Butterfly (Pieris Napi), Wild Carrot (Daucus Carota) and Heath snails (Helicella itala)

Codophila varia is a species of 'shield bugs' belonging to the Pentatomidae family and Pentatomidae subfamily. It is common around most of Europe. These beautiful bugs feed on Asteraceae (especially on Echinops spinosus) and Apiaceae species.

Codophila varia shield bug on grass stem. (© LightColourShade. All rights reserved)

Volare. Birds In Flight

Flying free.

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta garzetta) in flight. (© LightColourShade. All rights reserved)

Flowering Bushes: Spanish Broom, Cistus, Henbit Deadnettle, Potato Bush, Augustusbossie

Spartium junceum (the sole species in the genus Spartium), known as Spanish Broom or Weaver's Broom, is a perennial, leguminous shrub native to the Mediterranean region in southern Europe, southwest Asia and northwest Africa, where it grows in sunny sites, usually on dry, sandy soils.

Spartium junceum, Spanish Broom, Weaver's Broom flowering bushes
(© LightColourShade. All rights reserved)

Shades of White

When I studied classical painting I learned that there's no such thing in nature as absolutely pure white and black colours (which is also true for any other hue), but rather the play of tones, tints and shades created by the indirect light bouncing of  surrounding objects. It may be cold or warm, depending on the environment lighting and colour scale of the scene itself.

Shades of white. White quartz pebble on ceramic.
(© LightColourShade. All rights reserved)

Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) and White Morning Glory (Ipomea)

I love capturing the play of light and shade on flowers, and convolvulus flowers provide rich chiaroscuro effects.

Convolvulus arvensis (Field Bindweed) is a species of bindweed, native to Europe and Asia. It is a climbing or creeping herbaceous perennial plant. Despite blooming by day, I find their violet colour to be quite nocturnal.

Convolvulus, Morning glory blue flower close-up
(© LightColourShade. All rights reserved)

Ganoderma applanatum (Artist's Conk)

Ganoderma applanatum (Artist's Bracket, Artist's Conk, or Flacher Lackporling; syn. Boletus applanatus, Fomes applanatus, Fomes vegetus, Ganoderme aplani, Ganoderma lipsiense, Polyporus applanatus, and Polyporus vegetus) is a wide spread wood-decay bracket fungus. The fruit bodies ("conks") are are perennial, woody brackets, also called "conks" up to 30-40 cm across, hard, leathery, woody-textured, and inedible; they are white at first but soon turn dark red-brown and typically grow in a fanlike or hooflike form on the trunks of living or dead trees. Ganoderma is a common cause of decay and death of beech and poplar.

Ganoderma applanatum (Artist's Conk)
(© LightColourShade. All rights reserved)

Summer colours. Garden Flowers: Pink, White, Yellow, Purple

I'm still clinging to summer, I just can't let it go, ;) so here go my bits of aestival joy.

I stumbled upon this beautiful bush growing wild in the field in an unexpected place. It turns out it's Garland chrysanthemum, botanically Chrysanthemum coronarium or Leucanthemum coronarium, also known as chrysanthemum greens or edible chrysanthemum, native to the Mediterranean and East Asia. It is a leaf vegetable in the genus Chrysanthemum.

Garland chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum coronarium, Leucanthemum coronarium). (© 2012 LightColourShade. All rights reserved)

Blue Passion Flower (Passiflora Caerulea).

I’ve always had a fascination with nature, that is, animals, plants and the rest, especially the unusual ones.
The first time I saw this flower it struck me as otherworldly — its complex structure makes it look like an alien artefact, but it's yet another nature's beautiful creation.
 
Passiflora, the passion flowers or passion vines, is a genus of about 500 species of flowering plants that belong to the family Passifloraceae.
Passiflora caerulea, commonly known as the Blue Passion Flower or the Common Passion Flower, is a vine native to South America (Argentina, Paraguay where it is widely known as the Mburucuyá in Guaraní, Uruguay and Brazil). These names may also be applied to the passion fruit (Passiflora edulis).

Blue Passion Flower (Passiflora caerulea)
(© 2012 LightColourShade. All rights reserved)

Wildflowers. Flowering Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus), Moth Mullein (Verbascum blattaria), Teasel (Dipsacus), Moth Plant (Araujia cericifera), Carpobrotus, Ulex and Australian Hollyhock Summer Colours: pink, Yellow, Lilac and White

Let your garden overgrow and a lot of beautiful wildflowers will pop up, especially if you avoid cutting the grass with a lawnmower and use a scythe instead — not only an excellent workout, but also a way to cut down on petrol consumption.

Bramble or blackberry (Rubus fruticosus) belongs to the rosaceous family, genus Rubus. It has thorny stems and black or purple glossy edible berry-like fruits (drupelets). There are lots of wild blackberry bushes growing near my house, but they are so prickly that it's quite a pain to gather them.

Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus) flowers
(© 2012 LightColourShade. All rights reserved)

Black Poplar (Populus nigra) Fluffy Seeds and Fluffy Clouds

These days black poplar (Populus nigra) trees' fluffy seeds float in the air, wrapping everything in a kind of cotton like down (hence the name cottonwood).

Black poplar (Populus nigra) fluffy seeds.
(© 2012 LightColourShade. All rights reserved)

Flowering Trees. Pineapple Guava (Feijoa sellowiana)

Aka Acca sellowiana (Genus: Feijoa), feijoa, pineapple guava and guavasteen is a small slow-growing tender evergreen perennial tree with thick grey-green leaves and pink-white flowers with fleshy petals and red star-burst stamens that grow into exquisite edible fruits.

The Plant loves moist, humus-rich soil and sun or part shade. It doesn’t like cold or too wet and is drought resistant once established (although lack of water will cause fruit to drop). It belongs to the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, and is native to the highlands of southern Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, and northern Argentina.

The German botanist Otto Karl Berg named feijoa after João da Silva Feijó, a Portuguese botanist born in the colony of Brazil. The green ellipsoid chicken-egg size fruit matures in autumn. It has a sweet, aromatic flavour and juicy flesh divided into a clear gelatinous seed pulp and a firmer, slightly granular, opaque flesh nearer the skin — its gritty texture resembles the closely related guava. The fruit drops when ripe and at its fullest flavour, but may be picked from the tree to prevent bruising. Feijoa fruit has a distinctive, potent aroma due to the ester methyl benzoate and related compounds it contains.

I stumbled upon the trees by chance while strolling in the local park and took pictures of these beautiful flowers. I was thrilled to discover it was feijoa — I hadn't tasted the fruit in a long time (a rare and expensive treat here), so in the autumn we rushed to reap what we hadn't sown and were rewarded with a succulent organic crop for free.

Pineapple guava, Feijoa sellowiana flowers
(© 2011 LightColourShade. All rights reserved)

Neighbours. Cats and Dogs around me.

This beautiful pussycat was suffering from some kind of scabies that made him look daggers, but he's getting better now.

Sick cat.
(© 2011 LightColourShade. All rights reserved)

Life In Inanimate Things. Still Lifes.

I've never been too keen on painting still lifes, to me it's not as rewarding as painting portraits or landscapes (so I only paint them to order). However, photography is a different matter — you can convey a lot of moods and sensations by simply arranging objects, for instance

a peaceful breakfast in a joyous sunny morning,

A cup of tea.
(© 2011 LightColourShade. All rights reserved)

Sea Daffodils (Pancratium maritimum) Summer Colours: White

"The flower is the poetry of reproduction. It is an example of the eternal seductiveness of life" (Jean Giraudoux The Enchanted)

The dunes are at their most beautiful when Sea Daffodils, aka Sand Daffodil, Sand
Lily and the Lily of St. Nicholas, start to bloom. This gentle and graceful bulbous plant, as I already mentioned before, is native to Mediterranean dunes and southwestern Europe. In hot summers its twisted leaves die back and sweet-scented flowers pop up right from the sand. Except for still, windless summer nights, you have to squat and bring your nose close to the flower to perceive its exotic and delicate fragrance. One of its traits is that it recognises and doesn't accept its own pollen —  it can only be cross-pollinated, nor can it be pollinated artificially. Finicky beauty.

Sea daffodil Pancratium maritimum flower close-up
(© 2011 LightColourShade. All rights reserved)