Filed under: Art, Phoenix | Tags: Art, Downtown Phoenix, Lalo Cota, Murals, Phoenix
I’m so mad! I took all these shots at Sagrado Car Wash at 3200 ISO unintentionally. Ugh. Usually my photos look better enlarged here; these are best kept small. Maybe someday I’ll go back and retake them but the problem is I took a ton of shots of other things at this annoyingly high ISO, too, in an attempt to have a summer surplus, and I hate to redo all of them. Checking your settings is the key, I guess.
So…maybe you recognize these creatures as being done by Lalo Cota? He and Angel Diaz did the murals at this car wash.
A whole underwater, underworld exists at Sagrado.
Here is a time-lapse video of Angel Diaz painting the mural, which I found at Phoenix Taco, where you can see more photos taken at a normal ISO.
It’s been ages since my last cat post. I didn’t want anyone to think I’m not a crazy cat lady anymore so here are the indoor kitties…from the top: Google, Marbles, Abbey.
Tongue action, everyone ~ Abbey, Google, Marbles:
Additional random shots:
Marbles being artistic.
Google being pornographic.
Abbey being adorable.
Google wonders, “Are we cuter au naturel or as pop art?”
This is just a set of random photos with no relation to each other. They were all taken at various locations in central Phoenix. The one above is downtown by the Phoenix Public Market. I just liked the textures and shadows. Looks better enlarged.
The bathtub is in the historic Melrose District.
This is the shadow of our mesquite tree on our rusty old shed.
These grasses grow all over out here, I don’t know their specific name.
This is the Phoenix Public Market Urban Grocery and Wine Bar which just closed a few days ago. It was a non-profit. However, a local chef/owner at another restaurant has purchased it and will reopen it in October with a different business model. They will still highlight local produce, though, and meantime, the Farmers’ Markets and Food Truck Fridays will continue outside. There’s a cool mural by Joseph Sentrock Perez on the back of the building which I wrote about here.
This was flying over our house. I prefer Pacifico Time or Corona Time to Miller Time but it’s a good idea for the upcoming long weekend. It’s going to be 84 for a high here on Saturday and only 90 on Sunday so I hope to get a lot of photos, among other things.
We’re heading into the time of year in Arizona where I will be experiencing something like what many of you felt in the cold of winter…a lack of desire to get out and take photos. It sometimes is just too hot to want to grab the camera and brave the elements.
So…even though I did take some photos today, I have been looking through my “archives” of the past year and trying to find suitable blogging material to help get me through the rough times ahead. These were taken last summer in Sedona at the same time as the ones in these posts (1, 2). Yes, they have murals, too! This mural is at beautiful (and generally pricey) Tlaquepaque. I like all the different elements of Sedona represented in the big mountain lion below (click to enlarge).
These little guys, dreaming of salmon, are also at Tlaquepaque.
This is what we were at Tlaquepaque for…
Oak Creek Brewery, a microbrewery and restaurant with a lot of really good beers. This was the view from our table.
Wish I could transport myself there right now because it’s fairly miserable here today…and it’s just the beginning. Tomorrow’s forecast is 109.
The plumbago, which is heat-tolerant, in my strawberry jar is flourishing (Kim Klassen texture, but looks much better if you click on it). All 4 of the plumbagos I planted in there are blooming.
And so is the vinca, which can take a lot of heat.
So is the purple basil, also heat-tolerant, which tastes and smells heavenly. The flies enjoy it, too (he is attractive for a fly). You have to pinch the flowers off basil or it won’t continue to grow and this one has new flowers all the time.
The hibiscus is still flowering constantly, but soon I’m going to have to move it to the north-facing patio instead of the south-facing porch because it had a bad summer last year and I wasn’t sure it would recover.
The African Daisies are also heat-tolerant and these have survived for over a year now.
We’ve had a week of 100 plus temps so we’ve pretty much begun the hellacious summer. So far the mornings and evenings are still nice so it’s really not unbearable at all…yet.
Plants that also do well through these Phoenix summers are boxwoods, of which I have several varieties, and ferns.
We have natural murals down the alley. These are my neighbor’s oleanders.
We have some, too, but he has irrigation and we don’t so his are a lot more lush. Kinda looks like we live in the country, doesn’t it, instead of an urban desert.
Other plants in my yard that you will probably see photos of during the long hot summer ahead when I might not get out to shoot much include pyracantha, pomegranate, African sumac, California pepper, silk oak, mulberry, lantana, cat’s claw, pine, ficus, aloe vera, and mesquite. These are all well-established trees or bushes that have been around awhile and generally do well in the summers here as long as they get watered.
