No Shadows This Time

 

A little over a year ago, I posted three photos of this Allan Houser sculpture called "War Horse". In those shots, there were shadows on the wall behind the sculpture.  Just two weeks ago, I visited the museum and saw that I could get a shot without all the shadows and away from the nearby plants.  

I was hoping that one day I'd be able to get the clean shot with a solid background because I knew it would be a prime subject for some creative photo editing.  

I did several edit styles and these two were my favorites from the different applications I tried.  The mostly two-toned nature of the photo makes it work well with the editing tools.  It will be fun to try a few more the next time I'm feeling creative.

Photographic Abstracts

 

Those who have followed my blog for a while know that I love finding ways to create abstract images using my camera.  That's exactly what I did on my recent visit to the Phoenix Art Museum. The architecture of the museum is perfect for finding places where abstract images can emerge.  

The photo above is a recent attempt.  I saw the blocks of color and thought it would made a good image.

The photo to the right puts the spot in perspective.  That little corner up on the above floor is what I zeroed in on.  

The two colored, plastic panels join the two walls and the 'pink' above the plastic is the painted wall of a gallery.  

Where to Walk During a Heat Wave

 

We are having more unusually hot weather here in the desert southwest and I wanted to walk so I headed to the mall.  Then I got to thinking, maybe there are some things to photograph while I walk around.  First up, the escalators at Nordstroms caught my eye.  X marks the spot!

Next I saw this bronze statue in the mall.  It has been moved to this new location.  For many years, this statue was located in the food court.

Next I saw these colorful olive oil jugs. I thought their patterns might make a nice photo.

This last one was taken in the cosmetics department of one of the stores.  It's a display for a perfume called Aqua Allegoria.  That display is so busy with plants, it's hard to see the perfume bottle.  

Mission accomplished, a nice long walk and a few pictures to go with it.

Colored Pencils

 

Here is one more of my abstract art photos that I took a year ago.  These colored pencils were brand new so they were all sharp and even.  I liked this photo and wondered what I could do with it.

Then one day I was playing with one of my photo editing tools and I found this border made up of colored pencils.  That seemed just perfect for my photo so here you have it.  

This is just a little sample of some of things I did to fend off boredom back in 2020.  However, some of them were so fun that I think I'll continue to find interesting things to photograph like this.

Something Very Different

 

One year ago, I like so many others, found myself "locked-down" at home due to the pandemic.  As someone who is always out taking photos everywhere I go, I suddenly found myself wondering what to do with myself.  To fight off the boredom, I found myself photographing things around the house and making my own little abstract art pieces.  The one above was my first attempt.  I had a drawer full of "Sharpie" pens in a rainbow of colors so I arranged them and photographed them.

On another day, I photographed these two sets of multi-colored crayons.  Using the crayons to make art turned out to not work very well but, I love how they look in their boxes.

I purchased these three colorful "sticks" at the Phoenix Art Museum.  They are just decorative pieces that can be placed in bouquets of flowers or into potted plants to brighten them up.  I actually put this photo to use as one of the backgrounds on my iPhone.

Tomorrow I'll show you one more.

Admiring the View and the Light

 

On one of my visits to the Heard Museum, I was standing in the little sculpture garden and there was something about the light that appealed to me.  So I snapped this photo of the sky over the wall and then....

....I snapped this photo in another direction looking toward the Art Deco condo building near the museum.

Just two quick photos that I find appealing for some reason.  

The Color Difference

 

I think I've mentioned before that one of my favorite spots at the Heard Museum is a small courtyard sculpture garden that used to have one brilliant red wall.  That wall served as a backdrop for many photos I've taken there over the years like the one above of the Allan Houser sculpture called "Gift of the Earth". 

I think I also mentioned before that they recently repainted that wall to a flat white.  I can still photograph the art against the white wall but it just doesn't have the same impact as before.

From time to time, I also photographed the flowering vine that grows along that wall.  Those white flowers really pop against that red background.  It just doesn't work as well with the white background.  

The change makes me wonder who decided that white should be the new color.  Personally, I think they need to reevaluate that decision.  

Extra Photos Around the Heard Museum

 

When I was filing away my recent photos from the Heard Museum, I noticed several photos in that file that never made it on to the blog and since I liked them, I thought I'd post some random photos from past visits to the museum.  Above is a photo I took three years ago when I attended the "hoop dance" contest.  The participants dress in amazing costumes.  I was drawn to these beautifully beaded moccasins.  

This one was taken two years ago when the agave planted around the museum were blooming.  It's blooming season right now so I'm starting to see these tall stalks pop up all over town.

Here is a photo of the beautiful arches that are located on the south side of the building.  The entrance to the museum is on the other side of the building so I don't see these pretty arches very often.

This last one shows a set of windows the look out onto a quiet courtyard.  The museum building was built in 1929 and even after many additions were added, I can still find beautiful original architectural touches around the site.

Eye-Catching Patterns

 

I took this photo back in December of 2019 on a trip to the Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall.  It was a display in the window of the Louis Vuitton store and it caught my eye because of the great pattern.  When I pulled this photo out of my archives, it occurred to me that I haven't been to the mall in over 7 months.  That is certainly a record for me.  

Here is a pattern shot that I took just last Sunday.  I went to Julie & Dave's house for brunch.  Julie served brunch on her huge patio with five of us all spaced out at safe distances.  It felt great to see friends and do something normal for a change.  Julie has a set of really great juice glasses that she bought in Venice years ago. After I drank my juice, I held my glass up to the sky and aimed my cell phono into it to get this shot.  What a great pattern it made!

Patterns and Textures

My post today is all about patterns and textures.  I start with this photo of a row of cactus planted up against a textured wall.  There is lots of pattern and texture in this shot.  A few thorns too!

This one is just some architectural detail on one of the buildings at Biltmore Fashion Park Shopping Center.  Straight lines, angles and curves, all together.

This one happens to be an art work that was included in a show at the Phoenix Art Museum.  It's called "Pixeles" by Oscar Munoz an artist from Columbia.  It looks like pixelated images but it's actually made from coffee stained sugar cubes.  Surprised?  I was.

This last one required two photos.  It was also taken at the Phoenix Art Museum.  This room at the museum was all set up for some kind of meeting or presentation.  When I looked down on the room from the second floor, I saw the long row of chairs in the photo to the left and when I went downstairs, I liked the look of the chairs from that level too.

How is that for a variety?

Getting a Little Abstract

I think I might have been inspired by those abstract paintings I saw (and loved) last weekend. When I was walking at the Scottsdale Mall behind the Saguaro Hotel I kept seeing artistic views unfolding.  The hotel is painted in big, bold colors like pink, orange, yellow, blue and white.  The above is at the back of the hotel by the patio off of a ballroom.

I decided to get a little abstract and zoom in to capture just the pink and orange with that tiny speck of white against the blue sky.

I walked around some more and saw this blue wall with the blooming palo verde tree in front of it.  Blue and yellow go together so well.

Around another corner I saw this ocotillo up against the white wall.  How do you like my little photographic foray into abstraction?

Random iPhone Images

It's time for another series of random photos I've taken that don't seem to fit in anywhere on their own.  Above is a gorgeous Rolls Royce Silver Cloud.  I parked next to it recently at Biltmore Fashion Park.  My car looked embarrassingly shabby next to this one.

To the left are the stairs inside the Scottsdale Museum of the West.  Once again, the symmetry caught my eye.

These decorative balloons were flying at my local grocery store recently.  There were animal balloons on one aisle and this police car and fire truck on another.

This last one is back at the Scottsdale Museum of the West again.  There is a sculpture courtyard in the center of the museum and one wall is made of metal with these holes at the top to let water run out whenever it rains.  The water makes these rusty patterns on the wall.  It's the hand of nature making art.

Just One of Those Things....

....that catches my eye.

Chairs set up at the Phoenix Art Museum in an area that is used for events.  There was just something about the simple pattern of the chairs with that giant circle behind them that caught my eye.  I used that giant circle as a back-drop once before when this room was being set up for a wedding.

This time the room appears to be set up for a meeting or a lecture or perhaps a performance of some kind.  If you are a regular reader, you know that I do love to discover interesting patterns.  This is just another of those observations.

Textures of the Desert

When I was at the Desert Botanical Garden last week, I took a few photos of different cactus and I got to thinking about all the different textures and patterns these plants made.

So I created these collages to try to show off their different shapes and sizes.

Some are prickly and some are smooth and they are all so very different.

The Spice of Life

There is a saying that variety is the spice of life so today I'm offering a variety of photos.  That's just a fancy way of saying I have another "odd shots" post for you.  Starting. with this display of perfume bottles that drew my attention at a department store.

Speaking of a department store.  I stopped in to Saks to buy a bottle of Molton Brown bath wash (it's the closest place that carries it) and look how they packaged it up for me.  I felt like I had a present to open when I got it home.

I saw this bumper sticker and wondered what it meant so I snapped a photo so I could look it up.  If you're a Harry Potter fan, you probably already know what a "whomping willow" is.  I had to figure that out.

This photo looks a lot like I took a walk in the woods but, actually it's just up the street from me on the edge of the Biltmore Golf Course.  Looking at this photo, it's hard to believe that behind me is a very busy street and beyond the trees to the right are the rolling hills of the golf course.

Cell phone relay transmitters are becoming such a ubiquitous site that we really don't notice them any longer.  I saw these on the building next door to where I work.  When I was a kid, rooftops were full of smoke stacks.  Now they are full of cell phone transmitters.

Eye Test

How are your eyes?  Feeling a little dizzy?  

I took this photo in the gift shop of the Phoenix Art Museum.  Can you guess what it is?  It is a sort of basket made form carved wood.  The basket collapses to flat for storage and opens to make a basket.  I held my camera over the top of it to take the shot.  It looks like something from The Twilight Zone or maybe an eye test.