OFF-TOPIC: The Colours in October

October was not golden this year as it is normally supposed to be - it was ugly, rainy, dark, cold - simply yuck. But around the 20th the sky lit up and Mother Nature presented us all her skills in form of an Indian summer....

(all photos ©Petra Voegtle)

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LUCKY HOUSE: Houses with Trees are lucky Houses

I do believe in the positive influence and vibrancy of trees. Therefore it is essential to plant some near your home. Not only do they provide shade and oxygen they also can be the habitat for birds and other critters which are nice to observe and which make a garden finally come alive.

Not to talk about the beauty they offer each spring - this is absolutely priceless:

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A Firework of Colours - in a Crystal

Remember the other painting about tourmalines? It is here. This is another one with completely different colours and different shapes. Tourmalines belong to the most variegated minerals. Take the complete colour wheel and you will have all potential hues and shades of the crystal.That's so fascinating with tourmalines.

This one has been painted in acrylic on cotton. You can hang it with or without an additional frame. Illuminated with the right light the colours of this painting start to glow...

(Click on the images for enlargement)

"Tourmaline II"

(from the "Crystals and Minerals" series)

40" x 13", acrylic on cotton

©Petra Voegtle

Some virtual examples of a room with this painting on the wall are enclosed in the following links: interior1, interior2

I have added some photos of this fascinating mineral:

(image source: http://mineralminers.com/)

And here is another, very unusual tourmaline crystal in order to show you how variegated this mineral is:

(image source: http://www.crystal-treasure.com)
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A beautiful Home in a beautiful Garden...

Just something for you to smile...
I thought for the little snail it is true - isn't it? It's design - not human made but natural - nevertheless a design.

Here is the house and...

and here is the garden...

Did I lie or what?

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LUCKY HOUSE: another Wisteria House...

You already know my fanatic enthusiasm for Wisteria. But this house really knocks me out of my socks. Sorry - no interiors again but the exteriors.

This seems to be an old house in a residential area in Munich - near where I live - that is surrounded by rather newer homes. I don't know anything about this house - the fact is that you can hardly see it. Even in winter it is covered somehow by some evergreens - I think it's ivy - and it is enclosed with a high fence of shrubs which are that thick that you cannot even peek through them. Very mysterious - don't you think?

As you can see during the Wisteria blooming season the whole house disappears beneath a lump of blossoms and the front is totally hidden beneath a sea of green leaves. A wonderful place. Unfortunately you cannot even get a glimpse of the garden and what is growing there. So there is nothing left for me to do than staying outside, stretch myself as high as possible and shoot blind with the camera...




As you can see in the last photo the wisteria covers half of the roof already and you can see the top of the hedge which is really high - at least 2 meters! What a decoration!

What kind of people may live in there - I often wonder. They must be nice people with blossoms like these - such blossoms do not grow in gardens where you have nasty people - don't you think? So I just call it another lucky house and it will not be the last one...
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