I created a version of this picture several years ago, but I never posted it because I wasn't quite satisfied. So I decided to take another look and polish it a bit. I ended up changing more than I had intended, but I'm pretty happy with it now. Here's the earlier version.
I love sitting outside around dusk and watching the fireflies!
It's the first day of summer! I don't much like summer heat, but I do like to celebrate the solstices and equinoxes. I've had too much going on lately to finish a picture, but it is time to switch out the seasonal picture I have on one wall of my spare room, so I though I would show how I set up this “installation”.
If you're like me and like big pictures on your walls but don't have a lot of money for framed prints, there are other options. 
Zazzle offers banners for pretty good prices, so I decided to use them for this room that I recently painted. I actually decided to use four different pictures, one for each season, and since I had already picked out the lavender paint I meant to use I chose four pictures that would go with it—Cherry Blossom Globe, Glittering Caves of Aglarond, Autumn Guardian, and A Winter Night's Dream.
Zazzle offers “power tabs” to go with the banners that basically provide a reinforced hole for a cord to hang the banner, but I decided using screws would be more stable and flatter against the wall. So I carefully cut holes for the screws in the corners of each banner and used the power tabs for reinforcement. And I bought decorative screw caps to hide the screw heads.
If you were only using one banner this would be sufficient, but I wanted to switch out four different banners without having to remove the screws each time, so I had to make sure the holes were big enough to fit over the screw head and the base for the screw cap. That way I can just lift off the banner and hook the new one over the screws. I also added a velco strip in the middle of the top edge for extra support.
So now I've got a different picture for every season! Check out the banners I've got on Zazzle and see if there are any you're interested in—and I'll be adding more!
I love frost and snow and things that sparkle in the sun - even though I know a late frost can do some damage in the garden. But this virtual rose isn't going to be hurt by the last frost of winter.
You are expected, just follow the lights.
Here's a winter/fantasy scene in the “cwm” in the mountains that I've used for several other pictures. This time it's winter, and the solitary cottage dweller is expecting company.
Cwm Solitude
Cwm Waterfall
Cwm Autumn Frost
I first had the idea for this on a family trip around Thanksgiving of 2016. I was watching the landscape go by and noticed how the smaller trees still had their leaves, and how the dead leaves were almost pink. It may not be as beautiful as spring flowers or autumn leaves or snow, but there are scenes worth looking at even in an apparently lifeless landscape. This hanging on of dead leaves through the winter is called “marcescence”, and it is especially common in young oak trees like these.
This is my digital artwork, not a photograph.
