Celebration of Fine Art....encore

A few more photos from my visit to the Celebration of Fine Art in north Scottsdale last Friday.

You might remember this artist because I've featured him before.  I was happy to see him again at this year's event.  He is always so cheerful and full of information about his art.  His name is Gedion Nyanhongo and I told you about him in this post from a few years ago.

I loved this piece that he created to celebrate to hard work of women.  The stone has been textured to form her dress and then polished to show her face and skin.

Gedion pointed out how he polished the stone in the back of the sculpture to form her feet.  I love it.  He told me that he lets a piece of stone speak to him and tell him what form it should take.  You can see more of his work here .

This last shot is just a peek into an artist's studio at the event.  Many of the artists have set up little spaces where they are working on pieces.  I loved peeking into this area and seeing all the paint brushes and other tools of the trade.

Celebration of Fine Art

I visited the annual Celebration of Fine Art on Friday.  That's the art event that happens every year between mid-January and the end of March.  It's located every year in north Scottsdale in a huge white tent that is set up especially for the event.  This year I noticed how the north end of Scottsdale is quickly engulfing the site so I'm not sure how much longer they can hold this event on this piece of land.  It will be interesting to see if it needs to be moved to a new location next year.

Above is a glimpse at the work of Pete Tillack from San Diego California.  The photo shows one of his works called "The Sweet Life" against a very striking red wall and there is a glimpse of another work featuring New York's Flat Iron building on the side.  That's Pete working on another piece to the left.

Syed F Ahmad works with glass and had some amazing and colorful pieces on display.  I love the series of panels above.

I really liked this painting of the dog splashing in the water by Barbara Rudolph.  The painting is called "River Rush".  Barbara has been coming to the Celebration of Fine Arts for several years and I always enjoy seeing her work.

I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today.  I'm visiting the gorgeous Oregon Coast today.

Game Night, 60's Style

I went to another Phoenix Sun's game with my friend Janet and there was a 60's theme going on.  

Even the ever popular "Dancing Grannies" got into the act doing a little swaying to some 60's rock songs.  I'm thinking this was a good group to dance to that music because like me, they were dancing to those beats back when they were first released!

The half-time show also had a 60's - 70's theme with Kathy Sledge of the group Sister Sledge performing songs including "We are Family".  Remember that one?

The entertainment was more fun than the game.  I do believe the Phoenix Suns are having the worst season ever!

El Adobe

This little shopping and office complex is located in Old Town Scottsdale and is constructed of adobe brick.  Makes sense since it's called "El Adobe".  It's a small group of businesses, an art studio and a salon and a lovely little garden in the center.  It doesn't get much more southwestern than this place.

Fountain at City Hall

I featured a photo of this fountain way back in 2009 but taken from a different angle.  It looks great from many points of view so I thought another photo taken on a nice sunny day would be in order.  The fountain sits to one side of city hall in a wonderful little park area where people enjoy their lunch or just spend some time out of the office buildings that surround it.

What's Blooming

Aloe plants are blooming right now.  I believe this one is called a Rigid Aloe.

I love the big frilly blooms on these plants.

And so do the bees!

Optical Illusion

It appears as though the foot bridge over Tempe Town Lake is under water on one end but, never fear, it's just and optical illusion.  You see, there is a negative edge water feature in the foreground.  It's part of the decor around the Tempe Center for the Arts.

You can see from this photo that the bridge is completely safe!

Holding Hands

I found this mural on the side of a building in the city of Mesa when I was there a week or so ago.  I drove around the building looking for an indication of what was inside but no luck.  I'm guessing it's probably a municipal building of some kind.

That background is a take on the Arizona state flag.  

Year of the Monkey

Scottsdale Fashion Square was having a Year of the Monkey celebration on Saturday to bring in the Chinese Lunar New Year.

There were graceful dancers in beautiful costumes.

Flag dancers, twirling their flags.

And, this lovely lady playing the Pipa, a Chinese stringed instrument.  She was very good and played some relaxing songs.

It was one of those shopping day surprises!


I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today.  I'm featuring another visit to the Vatican Museums.

Curious Yellow

This bright yellow bike has been chained up on the corner of Camelback Road and 20th Street for several weeks now.  I've seen many bikes painted white in memory of a cyclist who was killed but I've never seen a yellow one.  I did some Google research and found and organization called The Yellow Bike Project in Austin Texas but, it sounds like they fix up old bikes to give away so I don't think this has anything to do with that project.

Since it's chained to a bike lane traffic sign, maybe it's some kind of warning mechanism.

Anyone out there have any ideas about this?

Snow - Phoenix Style

In Phoenix, we don't get the cold wet stuff that piles up everywhere but, at this time of year the flowering pear trees send their own bounty of white flakes to the ground.

As the blooms on these gorgeous trees start to fall, the white petals pile up on the ground making lots of patches of white.  These trees are so gorgeous when they bloom but about two weeks of that flowering beauty is all we get.

Save the Portico

I took the top two photos in September of 2014 when I went for a walk around the Biltmore Estates.  I thought it was interesting how the house had been completely torn down but the pink portico was preserved.

I took another walk in the same location last week and I saw that construction was going on to build a new house and it is being attached to the old portico.

As you can see from this photo, it's going to be a very big house.  It makes me wonder what the significance is of that front portico.  Do you suppose it has some sort of sentimental value?  I'll be sure to remember to check on it again so I can show you the completed house when it's done.

Riding High

I wonder what inspired this fad to raise a perfectly good truck up to such a ridiculous position.  My dad would always say "that isn't logical".  He was a lot like Mr. Spock that way.

The only thing that attracted me to this vehicle was the paint job.  I do like that yellow and blue theme they have going on.  As for all that expensive "lifting" equipment underneath, it looks like a complete waste of money to me.  But, that's just me.

Landscaping with Agave

The front of this building is lined with Agave plants and all of them appear to have blooms shooting up at the same time.  That will be quite a display once the blooms open up.

Ferryman's Crossing

Thousands of compact discs make up a river of sparkles in this exhibit at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art.  The piece is called Ferryman's Crossing and it is also by Bruce Munro, the artist who has the light exhibit at the Desert Botanical Garden.

The CD's are laid out in a wave like pattern and pulses of light are flashed onto their surface making it look like sunshine on rippling water.  The added sound of water flowing and bubbling makes the effect complete.  It has a very calming effect just like sitting on a beach or a river's edge.

Art and Light

This large tower of silver and light is located near the entrance to the Desert Botanical Garden and leads the way to the other "light" exhibits.

As I said in my post yesterday, all of the installations have been created by artist Bruce Munro.

This large dome is also created with water bottles that have been filled with fiber optic threads.  It changes color the same as the water towers I featured yesterday.  I caught this gentleman taking a closer look at how it all works.

Lining one of the garden paths were hundreds of these light units called fireflies.  It was a bit magical to walk along this path with these lights on both sides lighting the way.  I had seen all these installations several times during my daytime visits but this was the first time I had seen them lit up at night and I enjoyed it very much.

I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today.  I'm visiting one of the best preserved of the 21 California Missions.

Sonoran Light

We are starting to have warm evenings which prompted me to make it out to the Desert Botanical Garden to see the Sonoran Light show by light artist Bruce Munro.  The group of lights above are called Water Towers because they are literally towers made from water bottles filled with fiber optic lights.

I think this was my favorite of the light displays because you literally get lost in the maze of towers and lulled by the soft, changing lights.

Another that I liked were these Eden Blooms that were scattered around one of the cactus gardens.  They also change colors rotating through yellow, red, purple, blue and green.

Tomorrow I'll show you more of the lights from this show.

Scottsdale "Ladies"

I think I featured these "ladies" who stand along Main street in old town Scottsdale before but, I can't locate the post.  They are still there looking elegant and decidedly European.

This one seemed to be watching me over her shoulder.

As you can see from this photo, they are located in front of some shops along with that cluster of Golden Barrel Cactus that I featured yesterday.  All of them were soaking up some late afternoon sunshine one recent Sunday.

Golden Barrel Cactus Cluster

I found this cluster of golden barrel cactus in downtown Scottsdale along the sidewalk in old town.  Golden barrel cactus are endangered in the wild but, they are sought after for landscaping and can be found in many nurseries.  Every now and then I find one that is clustered like this one.

More Spring Looks

Yesterday it was African daisies, today it's the flowering pear trees.  They both seem to show up around this time every year.  I saw this tree near an office complex with the tree reflected in the building's glass.

If I focus on the glass, I get a crazy-quilt of white flowers and branches.  

The Look of Spring

It's that time of year here in Arizona.  Things are starting to look very spring-like.  Yesterday I notice lots of yards full of African Daisies.

They really do make me smile when I see patches of them here and there.

Let's Here it for the Landscapers

On that same street I featured yesterday, one house stood out because of the landscaping.  I don't think I'd ever seen such a beautifully landscaped yard.  I don't even want to think of what it costs to keep all these hedges so neat and those flowers blooming.

Big flower pots overflowing with color coordinated flowers and a wall completely covered in some type of vines frame the front of this gorgeous house.  Notice how the flowers are running all along the bottom edge of the wall.

The house is quite large so those color coordinated flowers ran for quite a distance.  And, that row of equally sized trees running along the inside of the wall.  It was all quite breathtaking.