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……loving life!

Ancient Artifact? or ?

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Judy

Is this an ancient artifact?

An ancient Greek Sun symbol?

Or is it something else?

An ancient artifact? !!

Actually I can’t fool any of you! This is sort of ancient…er um….it’s from last summer’s garden! Now can you guess?
As near as I can tell, it’s a Purple Coneflower. We have them in the area where I found this cool specimen. It makes such a great photo subject. And….as you can see below, I had fun playing on PhotoShop with it too.

Dried Purple Coneflower with the "Dry Brush" effect from PhotoShop.

Thanks for viewing my Coneflower!

Judy

All text and images are copyright © 2002-2012 and are the exclusive property of Judy Johnson (unless otherwise indicated). All Rights Reserved. All Images are protected under United States and International copyright laws. None of the images on this site are in the Public Domain.

68 thoughts on “Ancient Artifact? or ?”

andy1076 on March 30, 2012 at 12:00 am said:

wow that’s neat! specially with how hollow it is in the center 🙂

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- Judy on March 30, 2012 at 12:42 am said:
  
  I know…cool, huh? I keep taking photos of it. Can’t let it go!
  
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  - andy1076 on March 30, 2012 at 1:08 am said:
    
    Looking forward to seeing more then 🙂 🙂
  - Judy on March 30, 2012 at 6:24 pm said:
    
    Ok….I’ll start combing the woods. Be back in a few days. 😉 thanks Andy!
zelmare on March 30, 2012 at 2:00 am said:

You had me there! 🙂 Like the dry brush effect you used.

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- Judy on March 30, 2012 at 6:23 pm said:
  
  Thanks, zelmare! I like that effect too!
  
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David Williams on March 30, 2012 at 2:03 am said:

Reminds me of those little dinosaurs on Jurassic Park! 😀 Brought a smile to my face, thank you!

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- Judy on March 30, 2012 at 6:22 pm said:
  
  Glad I made you smile! You gave one back to me with your comment! 😉 Thanks, David!
  
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sillyfrogsusan on March 30, 2012 at 5:02 am said:

Very, very cool! Thanks for sharing!-Susan

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- Judy on March 30, 2012 at 6:19 pm said:
  
  Thank you Susan!
  
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Bindu on March 30, 2012 at 6:00 am said:

That’s really beautiful. Have never seen anything like that.

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- Judy on March 30, 2012 at 6:19 pm said:
  
  Me either, Bindu! I think I’ve been walking all over them and haven’t noticed them! Now I will look for them! Dried flowers can look cool!
  Thanks!
  
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sandy on March 30, 2012 at 6:23 am said:

Mine held together all winter, but now, they look just like that. I don’t know if it is from the wind, or birds.

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- Judy on March 30, 2012 at 6:18 pm said:
  
  Sandy..Your coneflowers look like this one of mine now? Oh good. It was my guess that it was a coneflower after looking at photos of dried ones! You mean yours looked like regular coneflowers with petals and all…all winter? Wow. That’s pretty amazing!
  
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  - sandy on March 30, 2012 at 6:51 pm said:
    
    Yes, until last week, when we had lots of wind.
  - Judy on March 30, 2012 at 9:13 pm said:
    
    Oh dear….I love coneflowers. So sorry. ;(
diggingher on March 30, 2012 at 7:08 am said:

I actually thought it was a sunflower. Great photo. Thanks for sharing.

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- Judy on March 30, 2012 at 5:58 pm said:
  
  Thanks! It does look like a sunflower!
  
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Margie on March 30, 2012 at 8:36 am said:

Cool beans find and capture Judy. Happy Friday!

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- Judy on March 30, 2012 at 6:15 pm said:
  
  Thank you, Margie! Happy Friday to you also!
  
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Elisa on March 30, 2012 at 9:01 am said:

This is such a cool picture! A purple cone flower? I love those, one of my favorites in the garden. Unfortunately a favorite of the bunnies, too. You can almost hear their little teeth crunching away at the base of the stem at night…..then TIMBER, down they go! I should try to dry a couple so at least I’ll have something that’s left of them!!

Beautiful picture!

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- Judy on March 30, 2012 at 6:14 pm said:
  
  Hi Elisa…welllll, I think it is a purple coneflower. It’s in the area of our coneflowers, but it could be a weed for all I know! I looked up photos of dried coneflowers and daisies. So I was thinking it may be the cone flower! We hardly have any rabbits at this house. We have coyotes that travel through the woods, so I’m wondering if that’s the reason. I was surprised to see a bunny the other day. The deer munch on everything here! I love how you describe the bunnies eating! funny…
  
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Inspired and pretty on March 30, 2012 at 9:06 am said:

I LOVE it! With the dry brush effect it looks like a painting. It’s very beautiful.

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- Judy on March 30, 2012 at 6:08 pm said:
  
  Thank you, Jocelyne! I do like the dry brush.
  
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Sartenada on March 30, 2012 at 10:17 am said:

Great observation / comparison.

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- Judy on March 30, 2012 at 6:08 pm said:
  
  Thank you, Sartenada. I must get over to your place and see what you’re up to in Finland!
  
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cooleur on March 30, 2012 at 2:11 pm said:

Beautiful flower

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- Judy on March 30, 2012 at 6:06 pm said:
  
  Thank you very much! Nice to meet you. You have a nice blog!
  
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Cotton Boll Conspiracy on March 30, 2012 at 3:44 pm said:

Looks like the kind of thing I step on about half a dozen times a year while working in my garden without any shoes on. Good times.

Neat photo, Judy.

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- Judy on March 30, 2012 at 6:03 pm said:
  
  haha…..ouch! Yes…I know what you mean! Gave me my laugh of the day!
  
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Jenna on March 30, 2012 at 4:20 pm said:

Whoa. now that is cool! The textures are amazing. Plants and trees often look just as beautiful when withered and dried up as they do alive. This is a perfect example of that. Outstanding photo, and the photoshopped version is great! 🙂

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- Judy on March 30, 2012 at 6:01 pm said:
  
  Thanks, Jenna! I agree about dried plants. And photoshop is my sandbox. I like to play there! 😉
  
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cravesadventure on March 30, 2012 at 4:38 pm said:

I love the effect from Photoshop! Have a Great Weekend:)

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- Judy on March 30, 2012 at 6:00 pm said:
  
  Thanks Renee….I like to play there sometimes! 😉
  
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JimR on March 30, 2012 at 5:31 pm said:

Hi Judy. Never seen one of these before.

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- Judy on March 30, 2012 at 5:59 pm said:
  
  Me either, Jim! 😉 Thanks for visiting!
  
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oregonsmiles on March 31, 2012 at 12:19 am said:

Thank you for wandering around your garden and sharing your find. I am not thinking Ancient… but definitely an artifact. Love the effect from Photoshop, I am still in a learning curve with that one. ~Franny

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- Judy on March 31, 2012 at 10:23 pm said:
  
  Hi Franny….I just want you to know I found this in my spam. I’ve never found yours in spam before.
  Yeah…I was joking when I said ancient….it was last summer’s coneflower!! I have PhotoShop Elements and I just keep trying new things. I’m sure it’s not as complicated as PhotoShop itself. The tool bar and tools are strange though. I only use the text writing tool so far. 😉
  
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jakesprinter on March 31, 2012 at 4:30 am said:

Great post Judy ,beautiful 🙂

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- Judy on March 31, 2012 at 1:53 pm said:
  
  Thank you, Jake! Now that I found it…I have my nose to the ground to find more dried up “artifacts”!! 😉
  
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Judee on March 31, 2012 at 4:46 am said:

Pretty cool effect with the dra brush. I so need to get into photoshop and discover all it can do! Too lazy I guess.

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- Judy on March 31, 2012 at 1:56 pm said:
  
  Hi Judee…I just have PhotoShop Elements right now. It’s all right on the same “board”. Not difficult to find…but it took me some time before I had the nerve! I understand. It’s also involves the Time factor. 😉
  
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olivianp on March 31, 2012 at 7:48 am said:

So Beautiful!
Never seen such flower here. Does it grow in cold temperature area only?

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- Judy on March 31, 2012 at 2:08 pm said:
  
  Thank you, Olive. The planting/hardiness zones for Coneflowers go from 3 (very cold) to 9 (warm weather all year). I don’t know what your planting zone is, do you?
  Zone 9 Would be like South Florida’s tropical temperatures. Find out what your planting Zone is, it goes by your average yearly temperatures. Then you could order them online. http://parkseed.com/echinacea-primadonna-deep-rose/p/00786-PK-P1/
  The link I gave you is for seeds. You can read about them. It says it’s North America’s favorite plant. So I have no idea.
  
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  - olivianp on April 1, 2012 at 11:46 am said:
    
    Aha! 😀 I know it after visiting the link you gave. Here in my place (Tomohon) we call it Aster flower (it’s daisy, right?) 🙂
    Thanks for the info, Judy 🙂
  - Judy on April 1, 2012 at 3:49 pm said:
    
    I think it’s part of the daisy family! When I was online they had daisies along with the Coneflower. So maybe that means you can grow them? I hope!!
sterlingsop on March 31, 2012 at 3:05 pm said:

I love the original picture and the effect you have created with Photoshop too – both of them are works of art in their own right.

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- Judy on March 31, 2012 at 3:15 pm said:
  
  Thank you very much! It was fun. Now I go through my yard, nose to the ground, looking for dried things to play with! 😉
  
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amira on March 31, 2012 at 5:10 pm said:

that sure looks ancient and antique 😉
beautiful capture Judy
and I like the brush effect. makes it so very magical
🙂

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- Judy on March 31, 2012 at 6:27 pm said:
  
  Thanks, Amira!
  
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Madhu on April 1, 2012 at 8:55 am said:

Beautiful Judy! It reminds me of the Greek/Turkish sunburst pendants!

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- Judy on April 1, 2012 at 3:47 pm said:
  
  I was thinking of them when I posted! Thank you, Madhu!
  
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eof737 on April 1, 2012 at 1:47 pm said:

Whatever it is, I like it. 😉

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- Judy on April 1, 2012 at 3:57 pm said:
  
  It’s a purple Coneflower, dried from last year. I found it when taking photos of daffys in front of the Coneflower plant. I tried to take photos of it on the plant, but the breeze was too strong, so I brought one inside. I’ve taken about 50 photos of it, I’m so enamored with this thing! lol
  
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Russel Ray Photos on April 1, 2012 at 11:37 pm said:

Love your Photoshop work!

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- Judy on April 1, 2012 at 11:43 pm said:
  
  Thanks…I’ve just started playing with the other parts of PSE. Up until recently I only used the text tool. Now I’m having way too much fun!
  
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  - Russel Ray Photos on April 1, 2012 at 11:50 pm said:
    
    PSE is probably the only Adobe product that I don’t currently have. I had bought the original versions of PSE and Photoshop Premier but didn’t like either of them. They languish on my computer because I already have four programs that I know and enjoy (Photoshop CS5, Lightroom 4, PaintShop Pro X4, and Photo-Paint X5).
  - Judy on April 2, 2012 at 1:07 am said:
    
    My son and daughter in law are photographers and one of the programs my son uses is Lightroom. I think he may have Aperture too? He has several programs. I’ve been thinking of Lightroom. I do post production in iPhoto and then move to PSE. But I want to learn more about PhotoShop, Lightroom and others. I also want a paint program. I got the free trial notice for PS CS6, but I didn’t take it.
  - Russel Ray Photos on April 2, 2012 at 1:27 am said:
    
    You can still downloand CS6 and have at it. It’s in Beta right now.
    
    I downloaded it because it was supposed to be able to edit video, but I guess they got tired of programming because what little video editing it provides is somewhere between poor and really poor.
  - Judy on April 2, 2012 at 1:55 am said:
    
    Yeah…but then I saw the price for the paid version (still Beta). I thought..well…I’ll look into all my options and see what I’ll do.
  - Russel Ray Photos on April 2, 2012 at 2:02 am said:
    
    The price is enough to scare anyone away, even the overly rich. If you want a similar program that is about 90% of everything that Photoshop is, but with a much less steep learning curve, look into Corel PaintShop Pro X4. Corel also has a free 30-day trial program for it, and if you need any help, you can call on me.
  - Judy on April 2, 2012 at 5:13 pm said:
    
    Thanks so much for the tip, Russel. Is this available for Macs? I’ve heard of Corel for years and I’ve been very interested in it. Thanks!
  - Russel Ray Photos on April 2, 2012 at 9:09 pm said:
    
    I’m sure it is. Go to http://www.corel.com/corel/product/index.jsp?pid=prod4130078
  - Judy on April 3, 2012 at 12:24 am said:
    
    Rats. It’s not for Macs. I can’t tell you how ready I was to dive into the trial. I wrote a letter to them asking for a Mac version…puleeeze! But then I realized I wasn’t logged in. I’ll do it another time. I’m really disappointed. It sounds just perfect for me. Thanks for your recommendation, Russel!
  - Russel Ray Photos on April 3, 2012 at 3:22 am said:
    
    Unbelievable. I had no idea.
  - Judy on April 3, 2012 at 11:53 am said:
    
    Oh I have gone nuts over this thing. I’ll bet I’ve taken 30 photos! Last night I picked 2 more! I think it’s worth it to plant Purple Coneflower not only for its summer beauty…but now for the winter texture and photo opportunities! 😉
frenchtwistedwoman on April 4, 2012 at 4:35 pm said:

Great photo! Even dead, it’s a beautiful thing. Thanks for sharing.

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- Judy on April 12, 2012 at 9:45 pm said:
  
  Thank you, french twist…I’ve had so much fun with that silly coneflower. I’ve even gone out to the garden and brought more into the house to photograph!
  
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