phoenix like

Original Thought by Jo Bradford

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Well I really thought I had killed my beloved Pinstripe Orchid when I moved recently. The poor thing must have hated the vibrations and winding country lanes in the back of the van... I guess it is no way for such a glorious creature to travel!!

Anyway, within 48 hours of moving she had dropped all of her flowers and was looking very sorry for herself. Thankfully, I can report that 8 weeks later, after a lot of gentle nurturing and coaxing (and a new sunny spot in the windowsill), she has produced a whole new stem of flower buds and the first three opened this week.... yeay!!

My beauty is back, long may she reign as queen of my houseplants

xxxxxx Hope by Jo Bradford

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Happy Days - we have a winner!!

Happy Days by Jo Bradford

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Well yesterday marked the end of my 10 day Pay It Forward giveaway here on the Green Island Studios blog.

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I have just entered all of the entries into the random number generator and it came up with lucky number 43!! That's you Sabine, La Marquise des anges, congratulations on winning the June Giveaway!!

Sabine chose Sea Pinks as her prize, so I will hand print it this week and it will be winging its way to Sabine in the South Of France very soon.

Sabine, please let us all know what you decide to do to continue to pay it forward.... I love to hear where the good fortune goes next.

☼☼☼

The happy days picture featured on today's post is one of a series i took a few years ago and lost... but I stumbled across a shoe box full of discs this week as I was clearing out at my studio and was pleased to find a whole load of "lost" art :)) More to follow soon

Happy Weekend y'all!!

Jo xoxo

Daydream Believer

Daydream Believer by Jo Bradford

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I just listed these two new pictures in my Etsy shop, Green Island Studios today. I have been making lots of serene and calming pictures this past week, I guess it is in response to the hectic daily madness that is Chez Bradford these days, I need a little soothing of my frazzled soul.....

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Daydream Keeper by Jo Bradford

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p.s. These are more pictures from those I took on my recent holiday in Andalucia.

Deeply Inserted into Existence

Beneath the Trees by Jo Bradford

I am reminded today of the wisdom of John Berger.
Bergers' writings were required reading for my photography degree many moons ago, yet much of what he says still resonates with me as I roam the world armed with my camera....
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“That we find a poppy beautiful means that we are less alone,
that we are more deeply inserted into existence
than the course of a single life would lead us to believe.”
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Thanks to Dava, who featured Green Island Studios as one of her Etsy shops of the week, on her blog "Treasures From Hawaii" today.

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Dialogues with Flowers

Nuance by Jo Bradford
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The artist is the confidant of nature, flowers carry on dialogues with her through the graceful bending of their stems and the harmoniously tinted nuances of their blossoms,

Every flower has a cordial word which nature directs towards her.

~ Auguste Rodin ~

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A Cordial Word - By Jo Bradford
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Well I can hardly believe that May is knocking on the door already, time is flying by in 2009!
These are a some of the brand new pictures in my Etsy shop today.
Enjoy
xoxo

Pretty In Pink

Just listed in my Etsy store

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In The Pink by Jo Bradford

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My Grandmother-in-Law has some beautiful varieties of pink Camelia in her garden. Every year at around this time she gives me a posie or two to brighten up our house and my studio. It's Camelia time now and here are some of delights from Nan's garden this spring.

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Pretty In Pink by Jo Bradford

**Thanks Nan!**

Childhood Cheer

Childhood Cheer ~ By Jo Bradford

What with all this freezing weather, harsh winds and those looming grey skies, I am feeling the need for a bit of cheer. Luckily for me, I have been so busy over the past few months that I have not had time to process many of the lovely summery photos I made a while ago.

Today my studio was a bright and suny place thanks to these lovely golden buttercup photographs.

Incidentally, in the language of flowers the Buttercup represents childhood, cheerfulness and the desire for riches.

Happy Monday xx

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The Language of Flowers Part I

Good Fortune by Jo Bradford

...In the language of the flowers

the Alium represents

good fortune and prosperity...

A Thing Of Beauty

A Thing of Beauty by Jo Bradford

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"A thing of beauty is a joy forever
Its lovliness increases, it will never
Pass into nothingness, but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing..."
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Excerpt from "A Thing of Beauty" by John Keats