End of Year, Beginning of New and Snow in Arizona!

We are in the midst of a fairly large snow storm by Arizona standards so I decided to do my last blog post of the year using snow scene photographs taken today in my neighborhood.  This is my favorite holiday(New Year's Day) as we all look ahead to the upcoming year with great hopes.  Let's hope it is as great as we all hope it will be...

Happy New Year!

Amazing Arizona Spring with Beaver Sculptures, Starpoints, Lilac, Swallowtails, and Columbine

The weather has been perfect here in Arizona for months.  The heat went off weeks ago and the coolers were started up today, but for now it requires no heating and cooling to be comfortable.  Dining outside is a delight on our screened in porch.  The first days of spring have brought temperatures that seem more like early summer!  There are many wildflowers in bloom and I continue to learn their common names--blackfoot daisy, indian paintbrush, manzanita shrubs and many other plants.

We have noxious weeds in AZ like the puncture vine or goathead:  http://plants.usda.gov/java/noxious?rptType=State&statefips=04, but most "weeds" have a pretty flower like filaree or cranesbill.  However, my HOA wants us to eliminate all "weeds" and plant growth which I do not agree with, especially since for many that means spraying large amounts of glyphosate.  I am experimenting with orange oil, vinegar, and a miniscule amount of detergent in my sprayer.  So far it is taking gallons, and the insects in hte soil don't care much for it, but my beautiful green yard is beginning to turn an ugly brown!  I am doing this under protest as I love my filaree, london rocket, locoweed, bunchgrasses, starpoint/silverpuffs and daisy fleabane.  Every day it is different in my yard this time of year, but now it will have to be eliminated.  However, I love the common land trails by Oak Creek and Spring Creek so I comply.

Columbine in my garden

Starpoint or Lindley's Silverpuff in my yard

Swallowtail on My Lilac Bush!

Sculpture Done by a Beaver by Oak Creek

They are unfortunately taking down a lot of trees...

Cornville, AZ Attractions Eliphante in Kaleidoscopes

According to Wikipedia, my Arizona winter home town has only one attraction. I tend to disagree and think the fish hatchery and Oak Creek are pretty spectacular, but here it is in black and white: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornville,_Arizona#Attractions. Interestingly, they call the attraction Eliphante: a kaleidoscopic, hand-built sculptural village in Cornville. The name sake Eliphante is one of the buildings which actually looks like an elephant's trunk on the exterior.  The green grass was beautiful against the wintery look of the large cottonwood trees.  Eliphante is still trying to get the last funds to own the land that the structures are on, please help if you can by donating:  http://www.eliphante.org/donate.html

Here are some links to eliphante for your reading pleasure:  

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g31202-Activities-Cornville_Arizona.html

http://curious-places.blogspot.com/2011/04/eliphante-cornville-arizona.html

http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/eliphante

Here are a few pictures and kaleidoscopes I made:

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!

Five Kaleidoscopes from One Photo of Oak Creek

Oak Creek Blues

Reeds on Oak Creek

Today I was inspired by a photograph that I took of Oak Creek during my morning walk.  I planned to take photos of some of the recent "flood sculptures" which I will feature at a later time, but the blue reflected sky in the Creek was unusual today as it was prussian blue.  You can feel the chill in the air just looking at the photograph!  These all were done with the same shape which is a square with twelve wedges.

original photo of Oak Creek

The Flooding of Oak Creek

Last week I blogged about the color of ice and this week we had flooding!  Fickle and wildly changing extreme weather is our plight during this period of global warming.  Both Spring and Oak Creeks jumped their banks with trees bravely hanging on as water streamed around them.  They were flowing very fast this morning and we took many videos and photographs.  The last time the water was this high in the winter was at least 3 years ago.

The photos became the inspiration for this weeks kaleidoscopes.

Mighty Warriors
8x8 $50 framed

Flooding in Winter
8x8 $50 framed

Here are some more of our flood pictures!

The Color of Ice in Arizona and the Granite Dells

After some very cold weather Willow Lake in Prescott was totally frozen.  In the first kaleidoscope you will see Canadian Geese sitting on top of the ice wondering what happened to their water.  Ice in AZ is blue since the skies are so blue and all the blue sunlight is reflected onto the ice.  The second kaleidoscope is of the Granite Dells in Prescott.  They are very ancient rounded granite formations which are wonderful to hike around.  I have included the original photos as well so you can see what I am describing.

We are enjoying a slightly slower pace this month which is very relaxing before the plein air season and my new renovation project in Lubec, Maine revs up.  Artist Retreat Studios and Gallery in Lubec, ME

all kaleidoscopes are for sale, please contact me