Purple Allamanda

Today I searched through the web photos of flowering vines until I found the Allamanda, the flower I painted a few days ago in Arizona.  I’m not quite certain about the varietal though.  There are many types and apparently the color of their blooms depends on the soil conditions to a great extent.  This photo was labelled “purple alamanda” and it looks exactly like the ones I painted from. 

I’ve been a bit under the weather for a couple of days but I hope to be back painting again tomorrow.  The term “under the weather” was an interesting choice of words given that I’ve just returned to the cold north from the hot south.  Under the blankets would have been accurate too…

Retweet this

Arizona Whites

I would love to know the name of this lovely flowering vine.  I looked for it tonight at the Desert Botanical Gardens but didn’t spot it.  Our gracious hosts have this beautiful flowering vine in their garden.  The hummers seem to be attracted to this flower – they preferred it to the feeders this week at least.

  Ron and I arrived at Desert Botanical Gardens today at 5pm and viewed the exhibit before as well as after dark.  Dale Chihuly is truly a master artist and I really enjoyed the displays.  The colors are amazing and the detail work was enhanced by the lighting after dark – wow!  The gardens are amazing even without the Chihuly glass – lots and lots of hummers and they are very friendly.  We headed straight to Fox’s afterwards for the Flames third, and last, period of the seasons.  Not a fun game to watch with a bunch of Chicago fans…

Home to Calgary tomorrow – yikes!  The weather has been unseasonably cold/snowy there and unseasonably hot/dry here.  That will make for a rough re-entry. 

Retweet this

Apache Trail

Today we set off for a Sunday afternoon drive to Tortilla Flat up the Apache Trail.  Wow!  The scenery did not disappoint. The terrain is so rough and the story of it’s construction over 100 years ago is fascination.  Ron and I hiked up a small trail to look out over Apache Lake (it’s 17 miles long but just a bit is peaking through in the background of our photo).  We took a bite at the Tortilla Flat Saloon and marveled at all that money stapled to the walls – lots of dollar bills, marks, yen notes, kiwi and ausie dollars….  names and dates visited. 

Teddy Roosevelt is responsible for building the road leading far back into the mountains to service the building of a large dam.  The entire project was part of the Reclamation Act of   1902.  The purpose of the act was to increase the habitability of the arid western United States.  Construction began in 1903 and ended in 1911 when the Roosevelt Dam began operation.  As a result of irrigation from the dam, hundreds of thousands of acres of land have become fertile farmland.  Many other such projects continue to benefit all residents of the arid western states.  After today I understand why Grandpa Matson took so much time explaining all the workings of the Imperial Dam for me back in 1997.  These dams made life in the desert possible.  

Back to our trip…  The desert is a bit coy.  Not wanting to flaunt it’s beauty, it doles it out a bit at a time.  We saw loads of blooming prickly pear cacti and several others bloomers I can’t name.  Beautiful.  Yellow flowering trees were everywhere.  The saguaros showed buds but we only saw a couple of them with full hats.  Beautiful and stately,  the saguaro is such a great object lesson for life.  Grow when you get watered, store it up for the hard times, bloom conservatively and not for long, hunker down and you’ll make it through the arid seasons…  and know that spring will come again next year.  PACE yourself.  Hmm, very wise. 

Tomorrow we have reservation at the Desert Botanical Gardens.  The farmer in me needs to know the names of some of these cacti and desert plants….  We’ll also see the Dale Chihuly glass exhibit which is there right now. 

Retweet this

Saguaro Sunset

I’ve had an amazing day in sunny and HOT Arizona (sorry all you Alberta people).  Temperature reached high nineties today but there was a slight breeze to take the edge off.  Quite tolerable rolling into and out of the pool. 

I sketched up the saguaro cactus behind the house here and put him front and centre with a little pal in a quick desert sunset watercolor.  It was fun. 

I’m really enjoying blogging since I discovered Windows Live Writer.  I do the entire blog posting on my laptop and when I click on post it logs on and makes it all happen.  Lots of options for formatting and jazzing things up – looking forward to trying some of those too!  Check it out here.

Retweet this

Canyon sketch

I did this desert sketch today based on a photo I liked in a mag. I needed to get myself painting again, and to familiarize myself with my new Caran d'ache water soluble crayons. It was fun and effective except where I struggled with value in the spots I didn't use the black.

Hopefully I'll have more painting time tomorrow. I'm enjoying Arizona very much - we've had a wonderful time visiting and celebrating birthdays. The weather has been beautiful but it's SO hot for April. Tomorrow we'll get up early and take advantage of the cooler morning temperature. Ron will hit some balls and I'll play with my watercolors.

Retweet this

Complete project…

Travel day tomorrow so this is a very quick post showing the entire project I’ve been working on over several days.  I think it turned out pretty well and I hope Christina will enjoy it.  Ciao!

Retweet this

Family

I’m doing my absolute best to get Christina’s belated birthday gift into the mail before Ron and I leave for Phoenix Friday.  I may be getting a bit too carried away with my Crop-a-dile and yarn but I wanted to convey the sense of family connection/togetherness.  Tomorrow I hope to blog a photo of the complete project to show how it’s put together.  So much for surprise but the instructions will come in handy when it arrives in the mail. 

I hope to be sketching, painting, and blogging while I’m enjoying the sun in Arizona…  I can’t wait as it’s been a long and rather grueling winter for us.  Blessings! 

Retweet this