Today, and for the rest of this week, I am putting aside some time each day for a project called Winter Sunflowers.

I was chatting out back this afternoon with my neighbor who is a stained glass artist. She was commenting on the beautiful colors of the park in winter. It’s hard to believe that winter is so full of color but it really is, they are just more subtle and they fool you into thinking that they are not there. The blues, purples, greens and golds are sometimes just taken for gray. But they are definitely there, creating a palette that is beautiful in its own quiet way.I always notice the winter palette more on days like today, when there is not sun, and all the colors are cool.

For me, winter is also about texture. Typically, that is what I notice first. Sometimes that’s all that’s left.

No color in the first image from Winter Sunflowers. Just texture. The big sunflower at the bottom is my favorite.