You are looking straight up from inside a cozy wooden cabin. The ceiling is made of warm, golden-brown wooden planks with visible natural grain and small knots.In the center of the image is a large rectangular skylight window set into the ceiling. The window frame is white with a clean, modern design — it has a slightly raised inner border that creates a subtle framed effect. Through the clear glass of the skylight you see a beautiful bright summer or spring sky: deep blue with many soft, scattered white clouds of different sizes. Some clouds are wispy and feathery, others are fuller and more rounded. The sunlight is strong and even, making the whole sky feel open, light, and uplifting. Below the window, wooden beams and part of the wall are visible. The overall atmosphere of the picture is calm, bright, natural, and peaceful — a view of the sky captured from a warm, wooden interior space.
Wegen des gefrierenden Regens bildet sich jetzt auf meinen Dachfenstern eine Eisschicht. Ich möchte nicht wissen, wie glatt die Straßen und Wege jetzt sind.
Ich werde aber auch nicht hinausgehen, um es zu testen. 😆
This black-and-white photograph captures an old, narrow wooden shutter door deeply set into a thick, ancient stone wall. The door consists of tall vertical planks of weathered wood, their grain still visible beneath years of sun, rain, and time, giving the surface a gently uneven texture full of small cracks and soft wear. Across the right side stretches a beautiful hand-forged iron strap hinge shaped like a slender tree branch or climbing vine. The dark iron contrasts sharply with the lighter wood and pale stone. Centered on the door hangs a simple iron ring knocker, its circular ring resting against a small decorative backplate. A small, modern padlock—the only clearly recent object—secures everything, threaded through a hasp and staple near the edge. The surrounding wall is built from irregular blocks of limestone or sandstone, each stone varying in size and shape, held together by thick, weathered mortar lines that have softened and receded over centuries. A plain stone lintel rests above the recessed doorway, its edges smoothed by long use. The whole scene carries a hushed, sculptural stillness. Strong tonal contrasts between the bright rough stone, the darker aged wood, and the deep black of the iron create a composition that feels both intimate and enduring, as though the door has guarded its threshold for hundreds of quiet years.
#ArtAdventCalendar 2025 Day 21: a San Francisco garden view for the final day of my solstice art advent calendar.
Happy solstice! 🌞
I finished this stained glass window this summer. My design features flowers that grow all over San Francisco: California poppies, Douglas irises, and angel's trumpets.
Stained glass double-hung window featuring yellow-orange angel's trumpets and broad green leaves arching across the top, purple Douglas irises and narrow leaves and stems framing the sides, and orange California poppies scattered across the bottom.
The window faces my neighbor's house, so you can see blurred lines of siding in clear-but-textured panes of glass that are framed by all the flowers and leaves.
Photograph of a stained glass panel I designed and constructed. The hummingbird is in mid-flight, its beak near the center of a peachy-yellow calla lily. It's a fiery throated hummingbird with a brilliant orange throat that transitions to yellow, then into the green of the body and a blue-feathered belly. The headcap, wing, and tail feathers are purple and blue (though they appear somewhat mauve with the sun shining through them). CC BY-SA 4.0 Kate Zimmerman.
I brought clay home from the studio for crafts time with my kid. I don't have specialized pottery equipment at home, so I made this bowl using a wine bottle as a rolling pin, then draped the slab over a terra cotta planter. I was thinking of a flooded valley (like Hetch Hetchy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hetch_Hetchy?wprov=sfla1) as I painted this with underglaze.
Photograph of a blue wavy-edged bowl sitting on a deck railing; the backdrop is a rainy day in a San Francisco neighborhood. CC BY-SA 4.0 Kate Zimmerman.
Photograph of a wheel-thrown cache pot. The exterior is dark purple at the base, transitioning into red and orange and yellow at the top. On the interior, it transitions from yellow at the top to white to azure to deep blue. CC BY-SA 4.0 Kate Zimmerman.
A peacock butterfly with dark wings featuring distinctive eyespot markings perched on a bright pink clover flower against a soft yellow blurred background.
A large crocheted basket I made out of yarn and cotton cording, then attached to a wire frame hamper for structure. It's about 16"x22" and the yarn colors transition from aqua at the top, to: lavender, purple, red, orange, yellow, green, blue-green, and finally blue at the bottom. CC BY-SA 4.0 Kate Zimmerman.
I had a several month break in taking pottery classes, and was worried that I would lose the knowledge I had built – but to my relief I picked things up quickly again when I recommenced classes. ☺️
My kid received a cyanotype fabric kit and we've had fun making prints together. I made this in January using leaves and seed heads from a papalo plant. I love the texture and sense of depth created by the negative print.
The image is a black-and-white photograph of a rustic dining table. In the foreground is a place setting consisting of a white plate with a scalloped edge, a spoon, and a fork, which lie parallel to each other next to the plate on the wooden surface of the table. A piece of the spoon appears to be broken off, and the prongs of the fork are heavily worn and slightly bent. There are four additional empty plates with cutlery on the table, arranged in a circle around a large, ornate serving bowl with a ladle. The table appears worn, with visible grain and texture. In the background, a window with multiple panes lets in soft light that illuminates the scene and casts gentle shadows. The overall atmosphere is calm and old-fashioned, suggesting a historical or vintage setting.
The image shows the shadows of a person and a horse cast on a ground covered with wood chips. The shadow of the person is on the left, depicting a human figure standing upright with arms raised, holding a camera. The shadow of the horse is on the right, featuring a distinct horse head with ears, a long neck, and a body, suggesting the horse is standing close to the person. The ground texture is uneven, with scattered wood chips, and the lighting indicates the sun is low, creating long, clear shadows.
The image depicts a building constructed from dark lava stones. The stones are irregularly shaped and stacked to form a rugged, textured wall. On the front, there is a bright blue wooden door, creating a stark contrast with the dark stones. To the left of the door, a stone staircase made of lava stones leads upward. To the right of the door, there is a wooden frame resembling a table. At the bottom of the image, a small yellow plant adds some color to the otherwise stony surroundings. The sky in the background is clear with a few white clouds.