If you haven't noticed by now, I LOVE ROSES, mine you see featured in my photo albums are all organically grown, meaning NO pesticides because I don't want any runoff of it into the ground system where my chihuahua stomps around or future generations live.

I draw much of my inspiration for my art from the beauty of nature, the lines and textures, the color palette, the resilience of life, the will to survive, and the ability to adapt in harsh conditions. I am particularly partial to roses. My rose garden holds alot of my secrets, something about tending roses opens your mind and heart to explore your thoughts in daydreams while you are in their presence.

Anyways, I thought I would explain in this journal some thoughts behind the rose photographs I share. Recently I was working towards a transition photographic journey of sorts with my rose photos, a compilation from having the ROSEBUDS to the BLOOMED AUTUMN ROSES to the full BLOSSOMED ROSE abstract as it wanes. I ended up sharing photos from the stages as I take them instead of holding off until a rose has progressed through all the stages, I thought maybe I will go back and match up the rose to a series, but I was over complicating something that simplifies my life.

I hope you find pleasure in viewing my roses. I say often enough that it is too bad you can't get the full impact without being able to enjoy the fragrance of the rose when seeing the photograph. Some of the photos I think turned out nice enough to spark the imagination to thoughts of aromas of sunshine within. I am not a professional photographer, I just like taking pictures.

Speaking of thoughts, the whole rose journal here turned out to be a metaphor in the making.

Let me simplify here...

A "rose" is just as beautiful in all its stages of its life cycle.

I had hoped to go through all the stages in a photojourney with you but I am not sure if I can make that compilation with this current selection of my backyard roses on my rosebushes at this time because of last night's rainfall that put a serious BEATDOWN on my Autumn roses. A sunny day will help some recover, others' stems or petals were bent badly so we will just have to see what the following days hold.

Sometimes it is a matter of "will" to hang on.

Sometimes it takes an outside force to MEND it.

And sadly sometimes they are clipped before their time as a last resort to salvage some beauty, still revered in a vase or a photograph memory for what beauty they brought to the world in their short time.

It's like life you see, you start out with all this POTENTIAL for greatness (a rosebud) with nurturing care you bloom in your full beauty (bloomed rose) and you have a good run at it, weathering what is thrown at you but shining proudly through it all until you wake up one day only to see you are on the downward slope of life (the full out blossomed rose) you cling to the beauty you had, you may be a bit worn on the edges but you still smell as sweet. To some you are even more beautiful with the little exposed moments curling curving in unique ways only you do as they remember all the beauty your shared up to this point, these exposed inner aspects reveal what was at your core all along, what drove you along in life.

You hang on as long as you can, maybe you miss being the bud, maybe you wish you hadn't gotten so beaten up as a bloom, maybe you wonder why the other ones lasted longer or bloomed brighter than you think you did, but you accept being the blossom you are.

Your petals fall eventually, they scatter among the wind. Little remnants of what made you beautiful. Maybe they will be picked up before they totally vanish and last even longer as potpourri with occasional passerbys catching a waft of a life that was once so sweet.

Most likely they will just fade away as some other ROSEBUD replaced them on the vine of life.

Beauty belongs to the buds, we blossomed roses had a good run at it, our struggles made the ROOTS deeper and the bush thrive as it budded out farther bringing even more beauty to the world. We took the beating of the weather as we leaned to shelter you new buds from the rain. We curled and wafted in the wind to bring the insects our way away from your delicate young life.

The encounters we had with others, the friendly ones took of our offerings and spread the love forth. Our allies ( the bees and the butterflies ) go on to do great things in their life for us having been here.

The foes ( slugs, grubs, and beetles ) we encountered chewed and hacked at us trying to take all they could and destroy us.

Even though scarred from the encounter we still have beauty to share. We basked in the sunlight, shuddered in the rain, and still we managed to spread more beauty and love in our final days always remembering that the buds are what is important.

Not just for their outward beauty, beauty fades, but because they will give to the bees and the butterflies along the way. It is in giving to others that one is most beautiful!

I give to you my rose photographs. I hope you share them with others, attach a little note saying "thinking of you" or something like that. But pick a favorite, one that SPEAKS to you with its beauty, and pass it on.

~Martha