Tag: rain

Petrichor

Today’s word is petrichor, and it is one of my favorite smells: that of a fresh earth after the rain. Enjoy.

Looking out my window, I see:
a tree shakes in the building breeze;
a bluebird sings in exuberance;
a squirrel jumps from branch to branch.

Above, the sky begins to darken:
rain is gathering in the clouds.
I think I should have cut the grass,
it might be too long, now too late.

When the water falls, I’ll watch
as it beats against the panes
washing all clean, leaving in its wake
a fresh petrichor, and world renewed.

This is my favorite experience of spring:
the growth, and frequent baptisms;
the green, and sudden blooms.
I can’t wait for the afternoon’s showers!

60 Brick by Brick: Portrait 2.0

I didn’t have any idea about this week’s #60BrickbyBrick until I was bumming around Target a few days ago and found an old LEGO polybag containing a minifigure I hadn’t previously been able to acquire. Then, with my new street baseplates, I saw a picture in my head. My mood lately has been a little dark and solemn, so I wanted to capture that as well. What follows I call “Melancholia“.

Melancholia - 1

The figure I acquired is the one you see. He comes with a “hoody” piece, which is new for LEGO and currently only exists on two figures, this one, and another very similar to it. Hopefully we will see more with different colors and hair styles. But for now, it works. Anyway, it took me a while to figure out how to do a background until I noticed that the streets themselves could be my background, albeit, shot with a high enough angle. From there it was just a matter of lighting and focus and voilà! In the editing bay I stripped away all color and lightened up the figure’s face and the street sign a bit as they turned about a little too dark. In all, a very simple picture, but one that was actually a little difficult to get right.

I did a second version, which was just a little clever editing with a transparent gif to simulate rain in case the first version wasn’t sad and goth enough. So I give you “Melancholia with Rain“…

Melancholia - 2

Bad rain effects aside, which do you prefer? If I had the set up, i.e., a real workspace in which I could do anything, I would do actual water for rain, but that remains outside my purview at the moment. Anyway, I like this as it turned out.

With that, another week of #60BrickByBrick is finished! (To read what I’m on about and to see previous pictures, look under the “LEGO” heading at the top of the page.)