The Elf on the Spire

 

I was driving north on Scottsdale Road on Sunday and spotted a flash of red on the tall Frank Lloyd Wright Spire that sits on this corner.  I was curious about what I was seeing so I turned the corner to get a closer look.

It appears that silly "Elf on the Shelf" has decided to climb the spire.  I don't recall ever seeing the spire decorated for the holidays before.  

Getting the full view of the elf was a bit challenging.  As you can see, the sun was shining on the other side.  This was the best I could do with the sun hiding behind the spire.

I posted the history of the spire back in 2013 and I snapped another photo of it back in March.

Unexpected Sunset Beauty

 

I stepped out of my kitchen in time to see the room filled with red light.  As I glanced toward the windows I saw a spectacular sunset happening.  I grabbed the camera and headed out to capture it.  We hadn't had any clouds earlier in the day so a cloud filled sunset was a bit unexpected. 

I turned around and looked in the opposite direction and could see how the glowing sunset was casting a pinkish glow all across the neighborhood.  I'm glad I saw this when I did.  It didn't last for very long.  

Old Westerns

 

I had lunch at a restaurant in Scottsdale that had a lot of old movie posters hanging on the wall.  These two were across from me.  As I looked at them I wondered who in the world was Hoot Gibson and for that matter, who was Buck Jones.

Hoot Gibson: Edmund Richard "Hoot" Gibson (1892 - 1962) was an American rodeo champion, film actor, film director and film producer.  While acting and stunt work began as a  sideline to Gibson's focus on rodeo, he successfully transitioned from silent films to become a leading performer in Hollywood's growing cowboy film industry.

Buck Jones: born Charles Frederick Gebhart (1891-1942) was an American actor known for his work in many popular Western movies.  In his early film appearances he was credited as Charles Jones.  He joined Hoot Gibson and Tom Mix as one of the top cowboy actors of the day.

A little internet searching and now I know who they were.

Wave Goodbye to Santa

 

Santa appeared to be waving goodbye to everyone at Uptown Plaza yesterday. I hadn't been to Uptown Plaza in quite a while so I missed this holiday decoration.  I'm glad I saw him before he rounded up those reindeer and flew away.

Two Beauties

 

When I was at the Arizona Biltmore a few days ago, I saw these two sitting with their people around the outdoor bar.  I just had to go over and say hello.  What a couple of sweeties they are.  

When I was just a kid, our family dog was an English Bulldog and she was the sweetest dog with a great personality.  Some people find them rather scary looking and stay away but nothing could be further from the truth.  They have a very friendly disposition.  It was a joy to meet these two.  To me, they are beautiful.  

Dinner With Friends

 I enjoyed a simply wonderful Christmas Eve dinner with lots of friends.  My friends David and Riley hosted.  If you've followed my site over the years, you'll remember that David is masterful at setting a beautiful table. And, Riley is a masterful cook so that is a great combination.

On Christmas Day I had dinner with my friends Julie and Dave at their house where this miniature Santa Clause greeted me.

We had drinks by the fire pit and then a lovely dinner and after dinner we played a few rounds of Trivial Pursuit.  It was a super fun day.

Merry Christmas

One Santa is still hugging that tree and the other Santa appears to be claiming this spot as the North Pole.  Santa might be a little directionally challenged but after his whirlwind trip around the globe, Arizona is a good place to stake a claim.

Here is a little Christmas Card from me to you!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

'Tis the Season

 

When we were at the Arizona Biltmore last Thursday, we did find one traditional Christmas tree.  It was located near the entrance to the ballrooms. The tree was accompanied by a table full of beautifully wrapped gifts. 

Perfect for Christmas Eve.

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.