A friend and I were talking about art recently.
She and I both love art works in all of their forms. We love fabric, needlework, sculpture, glass, music, poetry, paintings, mosaics…
The list goes on and on.
We happened to be looking at some old Norman Rockwell paintings, depicting life many decades ago. The pictures brought back happy memories of our childhood homes, parents and grandparents. 
We were noticing the many small ways that life has changed, including taste in “art.” These old, realistic paintings went out of fashion, yet we still enjoy them. They show a more graceful age, a way of life that seems to have passed out of this world-
There is something good and comforting about living with beautiful things around you. We both have artists in our families and among our friends. Our homes are full of beautiful things given to us by loved ones and beautiful things we’ve made ourselves.
And yet, beauty is where you find it.
At best, we only attempt to capture the grace and beauty of nature when we put brush to paper, hand to clay, thread to cloth. 
We went looking for beauty yesterday morning in places one might least expect to find it on a wintery morning. I searched in a ditch by the road, along the edges of marshes and creeks, among the dried remains of marsh grasses.
And here is what we found: beautifully formed ice crystals, perfectly configured where freezing air and Earth met water.
Like Tibetan sand paintings, these ice mosaics last only a moment. They melted back into the water from which they came by afternoon.
Priceless, fleeting works of art.
Like all of nature.
We are invited to participate in its beauty, wherever we can find it.
All Photos by Woodland Gnome 2014
“When someone seeks,” said Siddhartha, “then it easily happens that his eyes see only the thing that he seeks, and he is able to find nothing, to take in nothing because he always thinks only about the thing he is seeking, because he has one goal, because he is obsessed with his goal. Seeking means: having a goal. But finding means: being free, being open, having no goal.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
Forest Garden 
An eye for beauty is its own reward.
Indeed it is 😉
Beautiful images of your findings of Natural art! I love the quote too. I love the serendipity of finding something I wasn’t looking for when out with the camera.
Yes, it nearly always happens, which makes these little excursions so rewarding. Thank you for the kind words. It was just warm enough to be out comfortably, and still cold enough to find ice hanging around. Thank you for taking time on Forest Garden 😉 Best wishes, WG
Thank you for the beautiful photos and the wise words.
Thank you for taking time on Forest Garden tonight. Finding the photos was a pleasant way to spend Saturday morning together. Best wishes, WG
yes absolutely priceless
thanks for these beautiful postings, of pictures and equally beautiful thoughts and words.
Great shots, If I had to pick I like picture 5 and 6 the best! 😉
Thanks, Michael. Glad you like them. #5 is a tightly cropped bit of ice beside a dock, where the tide has gone out leaving a crust of ice behind. I love the colors the ice takes on from the light. Best wishes, WG