Five Faces and More

 

After lunch in the Heard Museum's cafe on Saturday, my friend and I stopped into the gift shop for a little look around.  That's where I saw this new painting by Dan Namingha, the well known Hopi painter and sculptor.  It's called "Five Faces" and is for sale for $18,500.  I instantly fell in love with it and since I can't buy it, this photograph will have to console me.  

There were a couple of other pieces in the shop that caught my eye.  I really like this "story-teller" sculpture.  It was way up on the top shelf so my photo isn't the best but, I think you tell how cute it is.

And this little clown kachina brought a smile to my face.  In addition to balancing on that log and board, he's attempting to keep a decorated pot balanced on his head.  Tricky!

There are always fun things to see in the gift shop.  I asked one of the clerks to show me a necklace I was admiring and while he was presenting it he said "We are a non-profit so there isn't any sales tax and with your membership, there is a discount.  And, there is no tariff because it's 100% made in America."  I enjoyed his tongue-in-cheek entrepreneurial spirit.  

Musical Dreaming

 

This mural is on a narrow wall right next to the sunflowers I posted last Monday.  This one was painted by Shela Yu who also goes by the name Shellshaker.  Shela was born and raised in Mesa Arizona and she has beautiful murals all over the valley.  

Taking part in Monday Murals.  

Fred Harvey & the American West

 

I was at the Heard Museum again yesterday for another Artful Mornings lecture.  This time it was about Fred Harvey and his influence in the American West.  Fred Harvey (1835-1901), formed a partnership with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad to build restaurants and hotels all along the railway line from Kansas to California.  The lecture reminded me that I had a few photos that I had taken back in 2017 when the museum did an exhibit about Fred Harvey and the Grand Canyon.  Above is a Zuni made inlay figure of a famous "Harvey Girl".  It was presented to Byron Harvey III by trader C.G. Wallace, another entrepreneur who worked with members of the Zuni tribe to create jewelry and artworks to be sold in places like the Harvey Houses.

Above is an old photograph of some Harvey Girls from one of the restaurants he owned.  

To the left are some of the artworks that were inspired by the Santa Fe Railroad and created by Native American craftsmen.  

Fred Harvey along with C.G. Wallace are both credited with introducing the public to the American west and all forms of Native American arts and crafts. You can clearly see the railroad's influence in these pieces.  

Skywatching

 

Keeping an eye on the sky at sunset is entertaining when there are a few clouds overhead.  On Thursday evening I saw some clouds gathering and wondered if there might be some good light.  This one was about as intense as it got that evening.  Not a brilliant sunset but a nice one nonetheless. 

I liked this little wispy cloud with just a touch of pink in it so I snapped a photo.  I didn't know I captured a plane passing overhead at the same time.  

Then after capturing the pretty sun-tinged clouds, it rained!  Not a rain that would register with any of you who see rain more often.  Frankly, it was just a few drops here and there.  Still, it was a totally unexpected event.  

Theme Day: Sweets

 

When there is a buffet of tempting treats in front of you, it is hard to decide what to choose.  Best take a plateful back to the table.  

Today's first of the month bloggers theme is "Sweets", a subject I'm quite fond of.  This photo was taken at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel when a friend and I were enjoying a Sunday brunch.  It was a delicious end to a fun Sunday outing. 

The City Daily Photo Bloggers theme for August is Sweets.  If you would like to see some other sweet treats from around the world, click here.

Abstract Sculpture

 

I have wanted to get a photo of this sculpture for many years and finally had a chance when I was stopped at a traffic light on the corner of 7th Street and Washington.  That happens to be a very busy intersection with no parking on either street.  In order to get close on foot, I'd have to park a very long distance away.  

On this occasion, I happened to be first in a line of cars at the intersection with a perfect view of the sculpture.  So I rolled down the window, grabbed the camera and took the shot.

This sculpture is called "Parabolic Spiral" and was created by Sam Sutton.  He has another sculpture further up 7th street but it is also in a location difficult to get to.  One of these days I'll get an opportunity to photograph it too.  

Man-Made Waterfall

 

This new water feature opened up last October at the Desert Botanical Garden and I hadn't taken a close look at it until just recently.  It's a man-made waterfall of sort with water running down the wall and creating a very pleasant babbling sound that is quite enjoyable.

It isn't a lot of water and it's being recycled from the pool at the bottom back over the waterfall.  The sound is reminiscent of a little babbling stream of water.  It makes a very pleasant spot to sit and relax a bit and enjoy the sounds. 

The Trials of Modern Living

 

We started the month of July with an electrical outage and we are ending the month with a water line break.  I was leaving the house around 4:00 in the afternoon on Saturday to meet some friends for drinks and dinner.  I saw this river of water gushing up from the ground and flowing down the street outside the gate.  In fact, those two cars you see were driving very slowly so as not to splash the water.  

When I came home around 10:30, this was the scene.  A City of Phoenix construction crew was hard at work digging a hole to get to the water pipes.  By that time, the water had been shut off.  That was something I quickly discovered when I turned on a faucet.  Luckily I had a full water bottle to get me through.  Sometime around 3:00 AM, the water was back on and the construction team was filling in the hole.  

Water and electricity....we take these things for granted until they fail us.  In spite of these two recent inconveniences, I consider myself very fortunate to live where I do.  There are far too many people around the world who have neither of these or other basic benefits.  

I Recognize Those Birds

 

Another mural from the Rosevelt Row area in downtown Phoenix.  I recognized those birds immediately.  They are the work of Lauren Lee and this new mural is  called "Three Birds in Bloom".  Over 10 years ago, I posted a photo of a mural of birds that look just like these.  You can see it here.  That building from years ago was torn down so that mural is now gone.  This new project is on the wall of a new electrical sub-station.  The sub-station is behind that wall and in front is a bus stop.  That's what those shade structures are for.

Next to the three birds is another mural.  This one is called "Art is Life" and it was painted by Brian Boner.  

Here is a view of the two murals together.  They are going to make a nice addition to all the art and art related businesses that flourish on this street.

Taking part in Monday Murals.

My Mountain Views

 

I've featured photos of the mountains to the north of where I live many times before.  I feel lucky to have some very nice views surrounding my home.  Yesterday, the air was so clear it made the mountains looks so crisp.  I couldn't resist a photo.

Sometimes I'll snap a photo because the play of light contrasts so well with the clouds that are rolling by.

On another occasion, I snapped a photo because the sunset was turning the sky and mountains a shade of dusky pink.

And on this occasion, I took the shot to capture those puffy clouds that were hovering over the top of the rugged peaks.  There seems to be and endless supply of appealing views no matter the weather or time of year. I'm lucky I get to see it all.

Search for Shade

 

I had an appointment with the eye doctor yesterday and when I arrived at the parking lot, I was hoping I'd find a spot in the shade.  We Arizonans are good at finding a little sliver of shade anywhere we can.  I lucked out and found a spot under this huge, old tree.

I took the top photo from my car window.  When I got out and walked around the row of cars, I spotted an agave plant with a tall bloom stock growing under the tree.

It looked sort of out of place hiding under the shade of that big tree.  But I bet it was happy to be out of the sun.  

"Fruity"

 

The prickly pear cacti are simply overflowing with fruit right now.  Just look at all that ruby-red fruit on this plant.

Each of the nopals (pads) have about a dozen tunas (fruit bulbs) on them.  It looks like all that fruit might weigh those nopals down but it doesn't .

This type of prickly pear with its short, brown thorns is sometimes called a cowboy whiskers prickly pear.  

The fruit are used to make jams and syrups.  I've had both and they taste fruity and sweet.  Every gift shop in the desert southwest will have jars of prickly pear jelly for sale.  

What's Blooming

 

I did see some plants that were blooming when I was at the garden. The roses surprised me.  The heat had burned the edges of most of them but this one was still looking good.

The guayacan shrub had some pretty purple blooms on it and they were attracting the bees.

The chocolate daisies had a few blooms to display. This one was smiling at me.

And of course, I couldn't leave without one or four photos of my favorite, the desert rose.  

It might be the HOT time of year in the desert southwest but we still have some pretty blooms to enjoy.

A Curious Little Plant

 

When I was at the garden on Sunday morning, I came across these very small plants that sort of resemble artichokes.  I have no idea what they are and there was no sign to give me a clue.  

They were planted in the Aloe garden and were surrounded by all kinds of aloe plants.  

However, these look more like agaves than aloe plants.  

I wonder what they are.

An Unexpected Walk in the Garden

My weather app said it was going to be about 82 degrees first thing Sunday morning and cloudy.  I decided to see if I could do a 6:00 AM walk on Sunday.  It turned out to be quite pleasant.  Without that giant fireball pouring its bright and radiant heat all over everything, I could enjoy being outdoors.  And, only a few other members decided to do the same thing, so it was wonderfully peaceful too.

It was a good morning for wildlife.  I saw this very cute little rabbit scouring the ground for bits to eat.  

The quail families were all out and about.  Here's papa with two of his young ones.

And, here's momma with another young one in the background.  They were out foraging with the family in tow.  

This white-winged dove must have gotten up even earlier than I did.  He decided to take a little nap while perched on a prickly pear cactus.  

It was nice to get a walk in during the month of July.  That is a rare opportunity indeed.  

 

Beautiful Flowers

 

I found these colorful flowers painted on the front of a tattoo parlor in downtown Phoenix.  The two names to the left are both tattoo artists but I'm getting the impression that they also painted the mural.  It's certainly beautifully done.  I love that they included the little bee to the left.  

Taking part in Monday Murals.  

An Unintentional Selfie

 

I met my friends David and Riley for dinner Friday night at Pizzaria Bianco.  While we were waiting for our table, I spied the overflowing  candle on the little antique chest.  I'm not sure how they got that candle to melt like that pouring out of the lantern box.  

I inadvertently caught myself and my friend David in the reflection in the mirror.  

I've posted photos from this place several times before  most recently in June and once in April.  

Electricity Update

 

I could hear the noise early Thursday morning so I went out to see what was happening and I caught sight of the electric company filing in the hole they dug to fix the outage we had two weeks ago.

I see they had a Bobcat to help them this time instead of the Kubota they used four years ago.  I did talk to the mangers here and they told me that the electric company knows what is causing the problem but that it will take a large amount of digging to lay new cable to completely fix it.  Supposedly, this last outage bumped us up on the "needed construction" list so we should see some work being done sometime in the next year.  Fingers crossed!

House Finch

 

When I was out roaming the streets one morning, I spotted a house finch in the distance sitting on the edge of a decorative fountain.  Since I had my camera with me, I zoomed in to see if I could get a good photo and this one turned out better than I expected.  It looks like he was posing for me.  

What's Precious

 

Before leaving the Heard Museum last Saturday, I made a pass through the gift shop.  To me, the gift shop is like going into another gallery because of the many beautiful things there to see.  

I found another new sculpture by the artist I've mentioned several times before, Roxanne Swentzell.  This one is called "What's Precious".  I love the expression on this little lady's face as she peers into the palm of her hand and something "precious" inside.  

I've posted so many of Roxanne's work on this blog that I decided to create a label to identify the posts containing her work.  If you want to see other posts, click the label below of "Swentzell".  

While I was searching my photos to find all the "Swentzell" photos to put the label on, I came a cross an old photo that never made it onto the blog.  This is another Roxanne Swentzell sculpture called "Emergence of the Clowns" that I photographed in 2017.  This sculpture represents the ascendance of the Pueblo People into this world.  The Koshare or Sacred Clowns are remembering the migration of the First People.  

Just one more wonderful sculpture to add to my collection of photos of her wonderful artwork.  

Sun Protection

 

I noticed on Saturday that the Heard Museum has found a unique way to protect the beautiful flower planters from the direct sunlight.  

I've admired those planters for a long time and posted many photos of the flowers pouring out of each of those planters.  I was hoping they would survive the heat of our brutal summer months.  

It looks like they are doing okay under those umbrellas.  That puddle under the planters tells me they should be getting plenty of water.

More From Bob Haozous

 

After the lecture at the Heard Museum, I wandered through the main gallery again and snapped a few more photos from the Bob Haozous exhibit.  Above is a small sculpture called "Market Chief".  It's carved from African wonder stone.

I love this larger sculpture called "Portable Pueblo".  

I admired the sketch above of Bob's grandfather, Juan de  Dios Gallegos.

To the left is another sculpture called "Totem Princess".  

Haozous has produced such a wide variety of art.