Amazing Arizona

Most people think Arizona is hot and dry and it is in some places, but it has amazing diversity.  This week we got around 3 inches of rain and now we have below freezing temperatures in the mornings.  However, the daytime temperatures are IDEAL!  Along Oak Creek I found the most amazingly large fungi mass.  The sunglasses in the kaleidoscopes are put there to give a sense of scale!  And yes we have grass here also...

original photo is almost as impressive!

Fungi Mass along Oak Creek in Cornville, AZ

Come and visit us this winter.  Take a http://paintsedona.com/ Plein Air Painting Workshop!

Archaeology, Geology, and Red Rock Hiking

Besides fabric and photography, I enjoy archaeology, geology and hiking.  I was able to take a hike with my woman's hiking group to a remote cave this week which I used for some of the images.  These are subtly colored kaleidoscopes, you really need to look at them in full screen.

What did the handprints mean?

Native American food storage chamber?

The red rocks of Sedona

The leaves are changing color as seen in the center of the kaleidoscope

For a change of scene, tonight we attend the opening of the SAGA show.  If you find yourself nearby, come and buy yourself a holiday gift of locally createed art:  http://www.sedonaareaguildofartists.com/event/saga-opening-reception-visions-of-fine-art-show/.

   

Back in Sedona for the Winter

We've been home for a WEEK and I have managed to clean up the landscaping, take 2 hikes, put our furniture back in it's place as our first summer tenant decided to rearrange our house, and BUY another property!  This one is a good samaritan deal for Brian and Sharon Bieberle.  Brian has worked on the past two renovations I have done, one in Oak Creek Valley and one in Lubec, Maine, and he needs to be a homeowner again!  So we are working out a deal for him to buy this home from us and he will fix it up for himself and we get payments for the next 15 years(or less).  It's actually a great deal all around for him, us, and the community of Oak Creek Valley since it was a vacant foreclosure.

One of my two hikes was to Fay Canyon where the meetup group we created had a paintout:  http://www.meetup.com/Plein-Air-Landscape-Painters-of-Sedona-and-the-Verde-Valley/.  It was not very well attended, but we did have great weather.  Below are 4 kaleidoscopes I made of the Fay Canyon area.

View from the parking lot at Fay Canyon

Michael Chesley Johnson at his easel