Day 7 - Pohutukawa flower

[vilakins]

Here's a pohutukawa flower to match the iris I did. So now there are two glass coasters. :-)

Pohutukawa flower

I love pohutukawas. They're coastal trees which start to bloom in December: the earlier, the hotter the summer will be. Some people call them the New Zealand Christmas tree because of the timing and the brilliant red blooms. there's even a steel sculpture of a flower where the southern and western motorways start in Auckland, the ends of which which light up at night. :-)



As LJ-hosted pictures aren't always showing up properly (just as a strip or very pixellated), I also have it on Flickr.

My NaArMaMo 2011 Gallery is here; go up a level for the others.

Comments

[trixieleitz]

Beautiful! It seems to glow :)

[vilakins]

I wanted to go for bright glass-with-light-coming-through colours. :-)

[corvuscornix]

It really does look like painted glass! I can see why you like them so much, those trees must be amazing when in bloom.

Btw I got the book this friday, though I didn't have time to start reading it until last night. I'm about a third through. It is very good, isn't it? I'm glad it's pouring down outside...

[vilakins]

Thanks! I might have a go at more flowers in that style.

I'm so glad you're enjoying it! Are you making lists of books to read or reread like I did? I disagree with her about Heinlein though. He's a creep and it comes across in his writing, the later stuff especially.

[corvuscornix]

I am! Though the "read" list is a lot longer than the "reread" one - this book makes me envy everyone who grew up in an English-speaking country. Even when I started to read in English it was difficult both to know what existed, and then to get hold of it. (That is much easier now of course, so I still have the chance to make up for it) Also, being of a later generation than Mori, the stuff in print (as opposed to the mostly-Swedish library stock) leaned rather more heavily toward fantasy than SF when I was her age.

It is a very long time since I've read anything by Heinlein, and it doesn't seem to have stuck... I have to reread before I have an opinion. ;-)

Anyway, I've finished the book, and yes, it resonates a lot with me too, particularly the first half of it (though I'm not entirely sure what I think about the ending). I did rather rush through the end though, so think I should to let it sink in a little bit before I write much more of a response... Hopefully I’ll have time to think about it at work tomorrow. :-)

[vilakins]

I suppose it was the enormous power of books that won, that her mother didn't know how to use. Really, the magic seemed to be there to give a little plot structure but I didn't consider it the main part of the story.

I could still find those old yellow-cover Gollancz SF books as a teenager but it's really hard to get hold of classics like that now. I still prefer SF to fantasy though I enjoy the few that break away from the tired old royalty-with-swords trope.

[corvuscornix]

I don't think I have a genre preference, really; I think it was Sense of Wonder that lured me into reading both SF and Fantasy, and unless you count only the most stereotypical stories in either, the line between them is often quite blurred anyway. I think the term "Speculative Fiction" is rather neat in encompassing the kind of stories that tend to attract me - whether SF, Fantasy or something else - as stories that tend to originate in some kind of "what if..." premise. Nonetheless, I have been somewhat more exposed to fantasy than SF.

"Among Others" sparked a number of Thoughts with me, several of them them of a rather tangential nature that I'll not try to impose on you here. (I am capable of some restraint - when I remember to ;-) I'll try to put them together and make a post about it on my own account instead, when I've got the energy for it. (I've just gotten back to work after our four-week mandatory summer holiday, and it seems that in that time I'd managed to completely forget how exhausted I get during normal, working weekdays... :P)

[elmey]

Gorgeous! You really got the stained glass effect.

The picture of the tree is amazing, I'd love to see a row of them in full bloom.

[vilakins]

Thank you!

We get them along Tamaki Drive and coastal roads like that! Here's a picture I took a few years back and one someone else took. They're never in full bloom at the same time so you don't get a line of red but they're still beautiful.

[elmey]

With or without blossoms, Tamaki Drive is wonderful--it's fairly close to you then?

[vilakins]

It is! Depending on where (and if) I'm working, I drive along it to get to the city though I'd rather go the other way towards all the pretty bays and their cafes. :-)

[ultrapsychobrat.livejournal.com]

Oooh, very cool! I like this a lot.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Pohutukawas make me so happy, even now in winter when they're not out. I can think about when they will be. :-)

[imhilien.livejournal.com]

Nicely done. :)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I wanted something to brighten up today.

[imhilien.livejournal.com]

After all the rain, that was a good idea. :)

[communicator.livejournal.com]

That is lovely, it looks like an illustration in an illuminated manuscript

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Wow, thanks! I think the monks might have done more delicate work then me. :-)

[vjezkova.livejournal.com]

It is here! It is here! My lovely pohutukawa! and even more beautiful than I imagined. This is exquisite and yes, the coasters would be great, you can go on with that collection!!!!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

OK, if I'm stuck for topics I will make more. Perhaps a clivia and a kowhai anyway. :-D

[alicambs.livejournal.com]

Very nice and I like the Iris as well. They're such gorgeous blooms aren't they.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I suppose you have plenty round where you are too.

[alicambs.livejournal.com]

Got a beauty at the bottom of the garden, it was glorious in December/January. :-)

[san-valentine.livejournal.com]

That's very pretty. These really woudl work well as a set of coasters, or glass hangings for windows.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately I have no idea how to work with glass!

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

I like this one better than the iris.
They would make great cards too.

[quabazaa.livejournal.com]

Gasp! It's perfect!!! :D Yes it has to be one of my fav flowers, and I totally love how you've drawn it! :)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It's my favourite too and I can't wait to see them again.

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

That is beautiful! It does look like stained glass.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Or painted glass because I don't have the lead or whatever they use in stained glass. Hmm. I must do a stained glass pic. That's an idea!

[luinielle.livejournal.com]

That's so bright and beautiful! I like the gold outline you've done.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Thanks! An accidental style that works!

I love your icon.