Digital Magic

 

I performed a little digital magic on a few past holiday photos and I gave the desert southwest a heavy snow storm.  

I took this photo at the Desert Botanical Garden two years ago.  

This one was also taken at the garden right at the entrance.  I posted the original here.  

I posted a photo of this tree last year.  It was in front of the Wrigley Mansion.  

With the help of some digital magic, I turned the desert into a winter wonderland. 

A Very Special Chocolate Place

 

I drove out to north Scottsdale on Friday to pick up my order of craft chocolates from Zak's Chocolate.  I posted about Zak's for the first time back in 2017 and I've been getting chocolates from them ever since.  Their little shop closed during the pandemic and now you place orders online and then pick the order up from their kitchen/shop. It's kind of like going to a speak-easy only for chocolate and not drinks. And let me tell you, it's well worth the extra steps.  These chocolates are so much better than any you will buy at department stores.  

Cheers!  I hope you can find some truly fine chocolates where you live.  

Decorating Blunder

 

A friend and I went to the Arizona Biltmore Hotel to see how their holiday decorations were looking this year.  The first thing we saw was this metal tree surrounded by metal gift boxes set up in front of the hotel.  I thought to myself that it was a bit strange for such a stately old historic hotel.

The first Christmas tree we saw after entering was this one.  My friend thought it looked like a giant, shaggy dog and I can certainly see how she would think that.

Then we saw that the lobby was decorated with two rows of the same "shaggy" trees.

I have no idea who they hired to do the decorating but I hope they don't use the same people next year. I am not getting any festive holiday feelings from this unusual display.

More Shopping Decorations

 

Scottsdale Fashion Square is a huge mall so there are many decorations scattered around.  These two trees dressed in red were on one of the upper floors.

I thought I might get arty with a shot and photograph those two trees through one of the red wreaths that hangs from the ceiling.  

It was a great idea but obviously, I'm not tall enough to get those trees centered in that circle.  However, it was fun trying.  

Glowing Unicorn

When I was at the mall two weeks ago, I snapped a few photos of some of the interesting holiday window displays.  This unicorn with an inner glow caught my eye.  It was in the window of the Dior shop.

Louis Vuitton always has interesting shop windows so I headed that way and saw these two.  I like the blue background.  

The very fancy carousel animals are also very nice.  The windows were very inviting but I didn't go in either of these stores.  I just admired the window decorator's artistry.  

 

Christmas Card Fun

 

My sister sent me this very cute little pop-up Christmas card and I liked it so much, I decided to take a photo of it.  It's only about 6 inches tall.

You might remember that she sent me a much larger bouquet card last September for my birthday and I photographed it and then did some magical editing and got a variety of fabulous looks.

So, I decided to do the same with this little beauty.  Here's a watercolor version.

This one places the tree just outside a house with another  tree in the window and snow falling.

In this last one, I used a Christmas border which seemed just perfect for the holidays.  

A little photo editing is always something fun for me to do.  

Main Street

 

This is a view of Main Street in old town Scottsdale where I went for that short "art-walk" last weekend.  This is looking east as you can probably tell from the shadows.  In the center of that traffic round-about is an Ed Mell Sculpture of cowboy on a bucking bronco.  This street is full of art galleries from one end to another.  At this time of year, this part of Scottsdale is much quieter than the shopping centers.  Come January, this area will start buzzing with activity.  This street is also much quieter than the other half of old town Scottsdale where all the tourist shops are located.  I know because I tried to drive through that area on Saturday and got stuck in a huge traffic jam.  The streets were full of shoppers looking for a place to park.

Bears Like Climbing Trees

 

Yesterday I had tree hugging Santas and today I have bears hugging trees.  This photo was also taken in Chicago last September at the Neiman Marcus store. I love those bears climbing the tree.

And this one was taken in Scottsdale at the Neiman Marcus store there. That tree has even more bears on it than the one in Chicago.

The cuddly bears really do make fun decorations.  

Santa is a Tree Hugger!

 

When I was in Chicago this last September, I had lunch one day at the restaurant in Neiman Marcus.  That's where I found this Santa with his arms wrapped around a decorated tree. I thought it was an unusual decoration idea so I snapped a photo.  I also thought that September was way too early to even have Christmas decorations on display but, as you can see in the background, there were plenty of holiday decorations  to be found.

Recently I visited the Neiman Marcus store in Scottsdale and I found a similar tree hugging Santa here in the desert southwest.

A little tree hugging is a good thing.

Some Holiday Hints Among All That Art

 

Here are a couple of holiday decorations that I spotted while I was on my short "art walk" last Saturday.  Santa is in perfect position to drop some surprises down that chimney.  I'm not sure he would fit.

Here we have a case of "naughty" being a lot bigger than "nice".  

My favorite decorations in this area are still the blue lights and hanging baubles that I posted last Tuesday.  

Visiting Xanadu

 

Xanadu Gallery is one I visit quite often.  I've pictured many large sculptures that are always in front of this gallery.  You might remember Amelia Earhart and Claude Monet that I pictured in October.  

On my visit last Saturday, I stepped inside to see what I could find.  I was struck by the creativity of this one by Dave Newman.  His works were all multi-media pieces using all kinds of found bits and pieces.  This one is called Twilight Saguaro.

This second one is called Famous Saguaro.  Not all of his pieces were cactus.  He had other interesting mixed media pieces.

Another artist who is represented at Xanadu Gallery is Stephen Hansen.  I love seeing his whimsical pieces.  He always has the painter working on some famous work of art like Van Gogh's Cypresses in this example.  You can see a few of his other pieces here.

There is always something fun to see at Xanadu Gallery.

Look At All Those Colors

 

Moving on to another gallery on my little walk last Saturday, I found this very colorful painting.  It was at the Casa de Artistas gallery and it was painted by Fran Larsen.  I love it.  All those colors look a bit magical and yet they still seem so real for mineral-rich southwestern setting.

There was another painting by the same artist just to the right in the photo above.  It was much more whimsical but still very colorful.  I posted a photo of the front of this gallery a few years ago and looking at that old photo, I'm pretty sure the painting in the window is by the very same artist.  Take a look here. It's the second photo in that post.

Abstract Expressionism

At the AltaMira gallery in Scottsdale I saw some great art pieces from an artist new to me.  His name is Rocky Hawkins.  

This is one of his paintings and the one I liked the best.  Hawkins style is abstract expressionism and I can see the abstract nature and I can see the expressionism.  This one is called Inner Landscape. I love it.

Here is another one of his paintings. This one is very Rothko-like in its style.  This one is called Transformation No. 10.

I love learning about artists whose work is new to me.

The gallery also had this painting by the late Native American artist John Nieto.  Nieto has a huge following for his bold paintings.  This one was priced at $60,000, a price that speaks to his popularity among collectors.  I'm glad I got to see it and photograph it.

Change of Plans

 

I was on my way to Scottsdale on Saturday afternoon.  I had a late afternoon appointment but around 2:30, I decided to head that way and just kill some time at the mall.  About half way there, I realized I didn't need anything at the mall and I didn't really want to deal with the holiday crowds so I changed my direction and went to the "old-town" area instead.  That's the part of Scottsdale full of art galleries and restaurants.  I'm so glad I made that decision.  The streets were quiet and so were the galleries.  It was great.  I spent 2 hours enjoying the art and talking with gallery workers.  I'll show you some of the great artworks I enjoyed later this week.  

Today I have a photo of that little hidden gallery plaza all decorated for the holidays.  I love those blue lights on the tree and all the holiday ornaments hanging all around.  It felt very festive.

Three Faces

 

This mural was found on the side of a business on 7th Avenue in the mid-town part of Phoenix. When I lived on this side of town, this shop used to be a nice gift shop.  Now it appears to be a decorator shop.  The faces all look rather solemn so I'm not quite sure how this one is meant to be interpreted.  The middle face is slightly hidden by that statue of a lion on the pedestal in front of it.

This view gives a better look at the middle face.

I couldn't make out the artists name so I decided to just post a photo of the signature.  

Taking part in Monday Murals.

The Poinsettia Tree

 

Holiday decorations are up at Biltmore Fashion Park, the shopping center closest to me.  The annual poinsettia tree is looking rather brilliant.  There is something about all that red that makes me smile.

All the light poles are decorated too.  I love the big red bows.  

Admiring the Flowers

 

I was at a friend's house admiring the beautiful bouquet of flowers on her kitchen island.  I couldn't help myself, I had to snap a photo.  When my friend saw me take the photo, she said "Aren't those pretty?  That is my back-up bouquet for when I don't have any fresh flowers."  "WHAT?  You mean these aren't real?"  I was genuinely surprised.  These have to be the most realistic artificial flowers I've ever seen.  

Reflections in the Water

 

There is a little lake right around the corner from where I live and I noticed over last weekend that it was looking very placid and reflective.  I stopped to take a photo.  I was hoping I'd see some water birds around.  There usually are quite a lot of them here but those two Canadian geese on the far right of this photo were the only ones I saw.

In the Style Of....

 

The area of town where I found that scary skeleton that I posted on Tuesday is full of custom homes all very different and attractive.  There is even a Frank Lloyd Wright home in there that I posted about a couple of years ago.  This house (above) on a different street has the look of a FLW design but it is not.  This place is called the Glenn House and it was designed by Will Bruder Architects in 1986.  I'm guessing the architect might have been a fan of FLW.

A Silly Observation

 

I sat down at my desk and saw this lion staring at me from my computer.  He's reflected in the mirror-like Apple symbol on my laptop.  

He was reflected from this photo that hangs over my desk.

That lap top must have been sitting in just the right position.

Encounter with Something Scary

 

I took a short drive in an area north of me that I hadn't visited in a few years.  That's where I found this guy looming over the wall around a house.  I've seen lots of skeletons around town but this one is truly scary looking.  He appears to be wired with lights to light up at night.  

At this time of year I am used to seeing images of Santa and Snowmen but, why skeletons? It's puzzling to me.

Doom!

 Here is another mural that I found around the "Just Blaze" shop that I mentioned last Monday. This one pays tribute to a hip-hop artist named MF Doom who passed away on 10/31/20. The artwork is by Ray Rivas Art.  Doom is not an artist that I know of but it's a nice tribute to him nonetheless.  

Taking part in Monday Murals.

Theme Day: Slow

 

Our little group of City Daily Photo Bloggers chose "Slow" for the theme for December 1st.  I wondered how I would represent slow in a photo and then I remembered this turtle I encountered a few years ago.  Turtles are truly slow moving creatures so I'd say he's perfect for the theme. 

To see other "slow" photos from other bloggers, click here.

Christmas Ornament Sale

 

I went to the Heard Museums annual Christmas ornament sale yesterday.  You might remember that I went last year for the very first time and came home with a butterfly ornament even though I no longer put up a tree.  There is a lot more space in the newly remodeled gift shop so it was easier to see all the ornaments and talk with the artists.

I hadn't planned on going this year but my friend Glenda wanted to go so I went along.  All of the ornaments are made by Native American artists and  the artists are there to to talk about their creations.

I managed to not buy a single ornament this year but my friend bought several.

We talked to the artist who made all the ornaments on this tree.  He had some very clever and very detailed pieces.  If I was still decorating a tree, I'm sure I would have purchased a few from him.  I especially like the tree topper!