Bearded Irises

One of the most interesting things I have learned from gardening and photographing flowers

is that every year differences in the weather conspire to create unique results.

This year our extremely warm first quarter made the bearded irises very happy. 

What distinguishes bearded irises from the unbearded varieties

 is that fuzzy little caterpillar in the middle.

These flashy beauties are always crowd pleasers and most of the ones in these photos are from my roof garden. 

We divided the bulbs last fall

and spread them out into some of the less populated boxes

and were repaid with a particularly noteworthy display,

with a little help from Mother Nature of course!

Ciao

PJ

© PJ Lehrer 2012

Venice

I love Venice.  I have been there twice.

The first time was a long weekend during the summer I spent traveling through Europe. 

But the second time, I went alone for a week. 

I had a great time. 

Without distractions I could really focus on art, and Venice is the perfect place to do that. 

Since I was there for a week I could photograph the popular sites at different times of the day, and sometimes even without tourists in my shots! 

But the best thing about Venice is just wandering the alleys. 

One day I heard a tourist say “Let’s go get lost that way.” 

I had to laugh because that just about summed it up. 

But, as long as you weren’t trying to get somewhere specific the journey was a trip!

Ciao

PJ

© 2012 PJ Lehrer

Embroidery: Hands

This piece is part of my Figures series.  Each collage in the series combines photos of a person with additional ones to create the mood.  But, I realized as I was working on them that the collages themselves often seemed complete before I added embroidery.  So, I ended up just adding a few bits here and there as highlights.

This collage is called Hands and it combines one of Edward's beautiful photos with a pretty iris that I shot in Las Vegas.

Enjoy!

PJ

© 2012 PJ Lehrer

Times Square

Times Square has come a long way since I moved to Manhattan in 1982. 

At that point it was a seedy area full of strip joints and SROs. 

These days it’s Disneyworld! 

A couple of years ago they cut off some streets that crisscrossed

and turned the area into an open square reminiscent of similar spaces in Europe. 

Not only has this undoubtedly saved the lives of many tourists,

but it has also created a great space for events and performances. 

People can watch the acts while they eat a snack and rest their feet. 

No wonder it’s such a big hit!

Or it could just be because of the Naked Cowboy.

Ciao
PJ

© 2012 PJ Lehrer