Macro photography by Janet Keen Artist Rotorua , New Zealand

To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.

 Elliott Erwitt quotes 

Mosaic bird workshop. Creativity featuring Sarah's work.

I have been meaning to put Sarah, one of my teenage after school  pupils, on my blog for a while now,  but I  kept losing the photos I had taken of her in my chaotic computer filing system.
At last they are found, so here goes. 
Sarah's  mother drives her all the way in from their farm in the country to attend a classes every week and this shows real commitment and a lovely caring and encouraging attitude.

                  Sarah's mosaic bird. 

Sarah  is  a quiet, focused and very careful worker who definitely has an aptitude and interest in crafty things.
She is a quck learner and has a good eye for detail and  her artistic  confidence is growing every week that she attends.
She has started up her own pinterest site after I showed her mine  which  I think is fantastic.
She also does lovely pages in her visual diary.

We are on the theme of birds at the moment with Sarah.
I will post some more shots of her with her painted birds at a later time.


Creative Quote of the day .
Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.
Henry Van Dyke

Rotorua Farmstay, Tumbledown Hill, adventure with Sophia, Buttons and Vilna

Tumbledown Hill Farmstay

A peaceful farm retreat where you can relax and enjoy time with the animals, fresh air and peace. 
Only 12 kms from the centre of Rotorua and just up the road next to Paradise Valley Trout Springs and Lion Park. 

Also not far away from  Janet Keen Mosaics and Painting School, 
(374 Clayton Road, Rotorua, New Zealand).

 

Last Thursday, (my  day off, where I  go on arty adventures all over the place and generally take time out to have fun);  I was invited by  my photography friend, Vilna, for a walk around her gorgeous farm.

        Of course the friendly, adorable pets, Sophia the cat and Buttons the dog were invited to come along as well. 

It throws a whole new light on a walk when a meandering, inquisitive cat comes along.
 It gives you a chance to really appreciate the little things in life like what a pine cone or red and white dotty mushroom  smells like.
I'm a cat devotee so of course I was in heaven.

 

Sophia is so smoochy, she gave me a lot of attention as well.
This beautiful stand of pine trees with a thick carpert of pine needles and fallen pine cones took me back to treasured  memories of collecting with my family.
The aroma of pine and the silence made me feel relaxed.
It was as though I had been there before in a dream, maybe in another lifetime. 
It  felt to me like that place wanted me to be there.

Sophia and Buttons  may have been competing for attention, slightly, but  there was plenty of love and affection to go around. 

I thought that this dog and cat combination was very compatible. 

I want my own dog but my cat Gary, (the love of my life), would be mortified. 

 He does not like sharing me with anyone.  

I really like sharing other people's dogs, (and children),  they certainly make you feel loved and appreciated.

  

 I have purposefully made this a tilt and shift shot, the horizon is supposed to be wonky, so don't panic all you perfectionists out there; it's is not a mistake. 

I was avoiding tree trunks shooting out of Vilna's head.  

 

I am always after the perfect silhouette of "animals on a  hill" shot.

This has huge potential

I'd love  to go back when the light is better;  in early morning or early evening, the golden hours.

 

I love taking shots of trees against the sky. 
The skeletel form of a tree has a lot of power for me. 
Nuts and seeds like this remind me of harvest and abundance.

Fallen leaves on dewy green grass form patterns  that make me want to explore more.

 
I think let's simplify (for a second) and then I  say, blow that; lets be as busy as we want to be because nature is often messy and it's fun and creative. 

That stream would be lovely to float down in on a tire tube in the summer.

It is so clear and bound to be full of rainbow trout. 

Beehives are another obsession with me. 
I love them and I have always wanted to photograph them.
 I have a garden in summer that throbs with thousands of honey bees and I am sure they are coming from these hives. 
I love the buzzing, pollination and the industriousness of it all. 

Rustic textures and colours make me want to make a sculpture with these boards. 

Even the hens here were picturesque and friendly. 
I wanted to pick one up and stroke it.

You will feel at home if you stay there. 
You will probably wish you lived there; I did. 
A magical place with a trout filled stream and beautiful things to photograph and appreciate.  

There was even a morepork hooting and this was auspicious because they are my totems.
 I bought a little Morepork sculpture off  Rotorua sculpture artist, Todd Harris who rents a shed at the farmstay. 

I have it sitting on a table outside the front door to my studio. 
All the pupils love it. 

Vilna has just finished her set of mosaic flowers that she made in a mosaic beginners workshop set of four lessons.
She did a lovely job and is planning to put these on sticks and plant them in her garden.
I am looking forward to photographing them there.

 

You too could come for a mosaic weekend or one day workshop and make some glass flower mosaics for your garden.

Email jkeen@clear.net.nz for a quote for a family or group of friends.

 

See Pierre's and Vilna's website www.tumbledownhill.co.nz and email: enquiries@tumbledownhill.co.nz

Creative quotes of the day about the country
I really feel that my body craves to be in the mountains or by the ocean or in the countryside. Miranda Kerr
 
 I grew up in the New Zealand countryside. We didn't have television until I was 14, so sing-alongs were our only entertainment. Kiri Te Kanawa


 Weekend Art Retreats
I am running art and mosaic retreats for people from out of Rotorua and I recommend Tumbledown Hill as my preferred farmstay style of accommodation. 

It's so arty you will love it. 


Phone Janet Keen 07 3463435 for details of art and mosaic retreats.
email jkeen@clear.net.nz to book yours now.  
www.jkeen.net
See the details of my 2013 art and mosaic classes at the top of the homepage of this blog.