Constance Hobbs Art & Photography

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Florida Beach Early Morning

This is how it looked this morning on the beach in Florida. This is probably about 7:30AM. The sun rises at approximately 7AM. What a beautiful morning, like most mornings here. As you can see there aren't too many people about. In October the weather starts to cool down but I think its begun already. November is the official end of hurricane season. People down here count the days. Who can blame them. I'll probably be counting them too, soon enough.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Champel, Geneva Switzerland

When we moved to Geneva as a family, we lived in an area of town called Champel. It sits on a hill above the city and might be compared to the upper east side of Manhattan. My mother in law lived in Champel and it was important to us that the children and grandparents have easy access to one another. Our place was on the edge of town just above the Bout du Monde, a large sports and recreation area. The image above was my early morning view. The mountain you see in the distance is actually in France. You might think that whatever weather one saw in the morning was a precursor for the day. But this is not true for Geneva. I have never lived anywhere where the weather was more changeable and unpredictable. You might start your day warm and sunny but end your day gray and freezing.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Lac Leman Switzerland

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Sunlight Falling on Water

Monday, September 5, 2011

Happy Labor day

Today is Labor Day when we honor and celebrate the contributions of workers far and wide here in America. The typical celebrations include parades, picnics, barbecues, beaches and rest and relaxation for some. Lots of Hamburgers, hot dogs and beer are consumed today. This weekend also is the demarcation for the end of the summer holiday season. Most children go back to school this week. I can hear lots of mothers sighs of relief. Its a bit strange for me living here in Florida. Summer is all year round and one loses a sense of the seasons. A small price to pay for the beauty and joy of living here.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Inside Job the Movie

I watched the movie "Inside Job" over this past weekend. I recommend it to everyone. It is very well done. A bit long but extremely informative. It's about America's recent financial collapse. Written and directed by Charles Ferguson and narrated by Matt Damon, it moves along swiftly. You will clearly understand what happened after watching this documentary. I came away pretty upset. The most upsetting thing is the lack of accountability. Why has no one gone to jail? There was so much corruption on so many levels. Does money really buy everything? If you have enough can you really get away with anything? It's sad where we are. We have a Wall Street government and have had for some time.

Friday, August 26, 2011

A Feeling for Florida

For all those mystery buffs out there. Author Randy Wayne White is a fun read. I think all or most of his books take place in Florida. The Doc Ford series are the one's I like best, although I haven't read any of the others. The main character is a marine biologist who lives on the gulf coast of Florida near Sanibel Island. His description of life on the gulf coast is very entertaining. If you'd like to have a fun read and a feeling for Florida I recommend his books.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Day Dreaming Pond

Friday, August 12, 2011

Summertime Pleasures

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Garden Delights

There is nothing more pleasurable for me than on a summers morning or afternoon selecting flowers from my garden to bring indoors. I really enjoy combining flowers, trees and plants for interesting arrangements. The selections above consisting of cosmos, zinnias, coreopsis, hydrangea, peonies, lilacs and roses are from my New York garden and I will not have these here in Florida. I have to wrap my head around a totally new gardening experience. I have this weird impression that if I dig into the earth here all kinds of weird insects and lizards will emerge. Crazy, I know. I will venture forth in the fall. It's so hot here now that few flowers survive the heat. Btw, garden plant suggestions for Florida are welcome.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Another Sarasota trip

We took a drive across the state from the east coast of Florida to the west coast this past weekend. We drove up to the town of Okeechobee and then went west. It's the rainy season so we did encounter some rain showers, pretty heavy at times. By the time we reached Sarasota it had all cleared. My daughter suggested that we have dinner at the Salty Dog on Longboat Key. The setting was lovely but the food was wanting. All our drinks were served in plastic cups, not my favorite. But you can't beat that Florida kicked back life style. As I have said before, I can't believe how much I love living here. I really enjoyed living in New York and Europe but I love living in Florida. Who would have thought!

Friday, August 5, 2011

Abstract Photography

I"m a big fan of abstract photography. I know purists argue that it's too much like painting and not "real" photography or realistic depiction. The camera is a tool, just like a paint brush or any other tool that the artist uses to express himself or herself. It's the human being behind the creation that's important, not the choice of tools used.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Following Alice

Monday, August 1, 2011

I forgot to renew my domain names last week so my website and email were down since last Friday, July 29th. Thank goodness it happened over a summer weekend so I am assuming I didn't miss too many important emails. The unfortunate thing was that after I paid, the DNS setting went pointing somewhere else. I only realized this today. So, all my emails went astray from Friday am until now Monday 11am. What a hassle. I have now put domain renewal on automatic. So if you were trying to reach me please send again. Thanks so much.

Water reflections

© 2011 Constance Hobbs. All rights reserved.

I'm drawn to reflections on water. They are so beautifully abstract. I may post a few more this week.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Boca Blues

Just Perfect

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Florida Landscape

I make the drive across central Florida frequently to visit my daughter in Sarasota. She's attending school there. It takes approximately 3 hours to go from east coast to west coast. I was surprised to find that you pass quite a few cattle ranches along the way. I really like Florida. It has a lot to offer as a state. There is so much to explore here. We're still renovating and getting settled but I look forward to many long weekend trips in the future.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Happy Fourth of July

Who doesn't like the Fourth of July? So many vacations and summer parties are designed around it. Last night, in Delray Beach here in Florida, they closed off the main avenue that runs down to the beach. I was amazed at the amount of people who materialized to watch the fire works. It's certainly out of season for Florida but there were plenty of people and it was very festive.

The Swordfish Club, Westhampton New York

Aline Smithson who produces and edits her fabulous photo blog Lenscratch has a wonderful collection of summertime images by various photographers posted to celebrate July Fourth. I highly recommend for everyone to stop by and have a look. For those of you looking for photographic opportunities you will find that there as well. Enjoy!

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Collect Give and Manjari Sharma

I'm sure most of you are familiar with collect give. If not, It was founded in December 2009 as a place to collect contemporary photography and donate to worthy causes at the same time. The photographers featured on collect.give have pledged to donate 100% of the profits from their print sales to worthwhile causes they support. They have a wonderful collection of prints available to purchase at a reasonable price and I highly recommend to anyone interested in photography do stop by there. If you are interested in collecting definitely stop by there. I recently bought a print from Manjari Sharma. I enjoy her work and was only too happy to help out a worthy cause at the same time. The purchase will support a Nepalese child to have education and food.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Airborn Sunset

I posted this image for its beauty, peace and tranquility. Let's just say it is the complete antithesis of my own mental state right now. We are renovating a house for several months now and I am exhausted from the project. Not to mention the distraction from my work. That adds another little zing to the experience. What is it that those statistical charts always say? Losing a loved one is the most stressful experience. Then its divorce and then its renovations? Well, anyway, its definitely up there in the top 5. I took the shot above from an airplane just as the sun was to disappear and sink beneath the clouds. Such stunning, simple beauty.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Evening Palms

There isn't anything lovelier than having cocktails or dinner out in the open air. In fact anything is lovely out under the open air. I really appreciate that aspect of living in Florida. One frequently gets to do just that.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Hurricane Season

Hurricane season is upon us in Florida. With all the crazy weather this past year it would seem likely that some serious hurricanes might be headed our way. I certainly hope not. Florida is another "big sky country" state. Perhaps not as dramatic as out west but much more dramatic than the north east. It's flat so one is able to see our truly magnificent sky. This image was not treated in photoshop and is completely natural color wise. It was taken looking west from Delray Beach Florida this past march.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Handicapped

Sometimes I wonder how this wonderful country of ours became so handicapped. Is it as simple as human greed in all it's various forms? Or is it the tremendous out sourcing of jobs, or is it the banks helping out only themselves? Loosen up the reins boys! What will happen if we continue down this path? No one dares to speak up because they are afraid to be pin pointed, singled out or even shot. What a state of affairs. Even the President can't do much because they will definitely shoot him if he steps out of line. Who are "they"? I suppose big corporate interests, power and money in all its corrupt forms, the mafia, even some of our federal agencies I'm sure. Just look at what happened to the Kennedy's. They tried to change things. It seems to me that our fore fathers cooperated more. They needed each other. Technological advances have isolated us and our antiquated notions of education are churning out less then well educated, whole and integrated individuals. I think we need a revolution in our educational system. How did things get this far and what are we going to do?