Impressive Student Art

 

I stopped at the Shemer Art Center on Friday to see an exhibit called "New Art Arizona".  It was a group of work by artists who are recipients of the 2022 Arizona Artists Guild and Arizona Watercolor Association scholarships.  One artist in particular stood out to me.  She is Lola Panco and she had three pieces in the exhibit.  The one above is called "Enlightenment".  

This one is called "Voskresen'e" which translates to "Sunday".  Ms. Panco was born in Belarus and immigrated to the United States.  

This one is called "Embrace" and all three of these paintings are done in oil on canvas.  She is certainly a very talented young woman.  

I have new post on Sharon's Sojourns today.  In Chicago, I found signs to admire and chuckle over.

 

A Variety of Spring Blooms

 

I'm enjoying seeing flowers in a variety of places right now. Our weather in the Phoenix area allows us to have flowers all year long but, they seem more intense to me in the spring months.  Above is a row of pots filled with blooms that I saw in Scottsdale.

To the right, some bougainvillea petals in the late afternoon sun.

Above are some African daisies that were growing at the Desert Botanical Garden.  I love these with the blue centers.

And, to the left some lavender growing in front of a wall. There is a story to go with this last shot.  I had an early morning appointment to get my hair cut and the place I go has this wall separating the building from the parking lot with lavender growing in front of the wall. When I got out of my car, I reached for my iPhone to snap a photo and discovered I had left my phone at home.  About that time, my hairdresser arrived and asked what I was looking at.  I told him I was admiring the lavender and was going to take a photo but forgot my phone.  When I got home and picked up my phone, this photo was texted to me.  He went back outside after I left and took the photo and sent it to me.  He's such a nice guy!

Desert Rider, Part Two

 

Here are few of the art pieces I saw in the Desert Rider exhibit at the Phoenix Art Museum.  This one is called "Water That you Should Not Drink" by Margarita Cabrera.  It's made of model cars strung on thread.  

Behind the one above is an electric piece called "End of Trail (With Electric Sunset)".    It's an 'electric' play on the well known "End of Trail" sculptures.  This one was created by Louis Jimenez.  

This last piece is called "Pony" created by Laurie Steelink.  This one looked very dramatic up against a black wall.  It consists of the painted hood of a car with lights and painted streaks on the wall to look like the headlights of the car.  

There is quite a variety of art works in this exhibit and they all relate to cars and travel.  

Desert Rider

 

There is a rather unusual exhibit going on at the Phoenix Art Museum.  I went to see it last weekend and I'm not sure what to think about it.

The exhibit is called "Desert Rider" and this is how the museum describes it:

"Explore the sociopolitical realities and imaginative interpretations of automotive and skateboarding subcultures through diverse works by local Arizona and regional artists."

The exhibit had a strange mix of pieces on display among them a series of magazine covers from a magazine called "LowRider".

I chose this cover to display today since today really is Cinco de Mayo!

The "car" above is called Gypsy Rose Piñata by Justin Favela.  

I'll show you a few more pieces from the exhibit tomorrow.

The Art of Glass

 

Last week when I visited the Desert Botanical Garden, I took the opportunity to visit the indoor exhibit of the Chihuly glass creations once again.  I hadn't seen them since last December.  I visited the room with the bright orange pieces and took a photo using the wide lens on my iPhone to capture the whole display.

I enjoyed these "curly" glass pieces in a variety of colors.

And, I once again walked around this display that looks like it's floating on water.  The Chihuly sculptures will remain at the Desert Botanical Garden through June 19th.  I have to enjoy it while I can.

More Trees are Blooming

 

This time it's the jacaranda trees that are blooming.  I love the pretty purple blooms these trees display this time of year.  

The Phoenix area doesn't have a lot of these trees but I do love the few that we have.  The blooms don't last very long so I have to enjoy them while they are here.

Behind a Wall

 

I found this mural located behind the block wall of what looks like a residence.  I couldn't see if there was a signature on it so I don't know who painted it or even why it's there.  I supposed it could be that the artist lives here.  Who knows?  

Taking part in Monday Murals.  

Theme Day: Shadows

 

I've photographed this Allan Houser sculpture several times but never posted a photo of it before.  It's called "War Pony".  Because of the way it was sculpted and where is sits in the little sculpture garden at the Heard Museum, there has always been an abundance of shadows behind it.  This one was taken around 2:30 in the afternoon.

On another occasion, I took this one around 4:00 in the afternoon.

Finally, this one was taken around 11:30 in the morning.  No matter the time of day, the shadows are abundant.  That makes these photos perfect for the May theme day when we post photos of "shadows".

To see shadows from around the world, click here.  

I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today.  I'm visiting an Arizona tourist town.

Sparse Blooms

 

I drove past that giant bottle brush tree that blooms every April and discovered another year of weak blooms.  

I first discovered this tree in 2018 when it was ablaze with blooms.  Then in 2019 it was once again full of bright red blooms

I haven't seen it bloom like that again.  I wonder if it has bloomed earlier the past two years and I'm just seeing that last of the blooms.  I'm going to mark my calendar for next year and try again.

Driving on the Mountain

 

Last week, I was early for an appointment so to kill a little time, I took a drive on one of the Camelback Mountain streets that I hardly ever travel.  I took the opportunity to take a few photos out the window. 

There are a lot of houses hidden by rock formations and canyons on the mountain.

The architecture is varied and interesting.

I hadn't been exploring on the mountain in a while so I enjoyed this little detour.  

Evening Glow on the Desert

 

When I attended the Dinner on the Desert event at the Desert Botanical Garden last Saturday, I snapped a few photos while I was there.  I only had my iPhone with me so these were all taken with the phone.  I got this great photo of Chihuly's Sonoran Neon exhibit.  These glowing pieces remind me colorful tumble weeds.

The boat full of glass called for another chance at a photo this time with the sun backlighting it.  That light was making all that glass glow.  

And, here are the Neodymium Reeds again with the mountain in the background glowing from the setting sun.

Cuisine on the Desert

 

Dinner on the Desert was beautifully prepared by Fabulous Food, a local catering company.  Sometimes I cringe at catered food served for huge groups but I have to admit they did a superb job with this meal.  

We started with this beautifully plated salad of micro greens, cherry tomatoes, shaved asparagus, zucchini and yellow squash with tri-colored quinoa and herbed champagne vinaigrette.  It was delicious.

The main course was filet of beef with black garlic, baby carrots and cauliflower on a roasted purple potato puree.  I was delighted to see that my steak was just the way I like it and the vegetables and sauces were very tasty.  

Dessert was a Yuzu tart served with fresh raspberries, butterfly pea and a blood orange chip.  I had never heard of butterfly pea before but I discovered it is an Asian plant used quite a bit in teas.  The whole dessert was excellent with a lemony flavor.

As we were leaving, we were encouraged to take a donut for the road.  I did and I saved it for breakfast the next morning.  So my delicious evening carried over to the morning.

Dinner on The Desert

 

Last Saturday evening was the 2022 Dinner on the Desert event at the Desert Botanical Garden.  It's their major fund-raising event of the year.  My friends Julie and Dave hosted a table and I was lucky enough to be their guest.

Our table was beautifully set.  I love the gold chairs and utensils.  If you look in the upper left corner of the photo, you will see blooms on one of the cactus.

Here's a close up of two huge blooms.  I think there were seven in all and they were right next to our table so we could enjoy them all evening.  Tomorrow I'll show you what was on the menu.

An Overload of Cuteness

 

When I woke up Sunday morning, I could hear the honking of those geese that hang out around here and I wondered what they were up to.  I hadn't seen them in over a week.  So I went outside and looked down to see this family group walking along the parking lot.

I went downstairs and followed them around a bit.  At a safe distance of course.  They did hiss at me when they first spotted me.  It was just a little warning to me to steer clear of the young ones.  I followed them past the Bar-B-Que grills.....

...and as they wandered along the various pathways on the grounds of the complex.

And, finally they were back in the parking lot again where "mom" and "pop" stopped for a while and all the little goslings took the opportunity to have a rest.  After all, they had been on a very long march through the grounds of the apartments. They must have been tired.

After a few minutes of rest, they were off again marching along the parking lot and back inside the grounds once more.  I have to admit, I found following this little family to be a wonderful way to start a Sunday morning.  

Desert Rose Plants are Back

 

The desert rose plants at the Desert Botanical Garden are back on view once again.  These plants love a hot dry climate but they won't survive temperatures around 50 degrees or below for prolonged periods.  The garden removes all these plants during the winter months putting them in a warm indoor facility.  

When they come back out for the summer months, they usually have blooms but very few leaves.  The leaves with come later.

I'm just happy to see them back again and showing off their pretty blooms.  I miss them when they are wintering indoors.  

I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today.  I'm taking a ride through Central Park.

Busy Bees

 

If I want to capture a bee or two, I just head over to the gaura belleza plant.  There is always a few bees dancing around these blooms.  

Trying to capture the busy bees and the swaying blooms is always a nice challenge.  Sometimes I'm lucky.  

Memory Trigger: Typing that title "Busy Bees" brought back a childhood memory.  There used to be a store in Quincy Illinois where I grew up called "Busy Bee".  It was one of those places that sells just about everything.  If I needed a new pair of shoes or dad needed some T-shirts or mom was looking for a summer hat, the Busy Bee had it all.  I can still picture the place with its creaking wood floors and a ceiling full of fans that were all connected together with one, very large fan belt.  Great memories!

Sidecar Pup

 

Yesterday, I found myself driving behind this motorcycle with the sidecar and I immediately recognized it.  I remembered posting a photo of this motorcycle with the dog on board once before.  What I didn't realize is that it was 4 years ago. You can see that post here.  I see that the dog is still happy to ride along with his eye-goggles on to protect his eyes.  It was fun to see this pair once again.