Morning set up

We began the morning with some inspiration. I made some wee bud vases from Maine sea glass and filled them with grasses and berries. We worked on grasses in ink on the first day.

I made small brushes from a whisk broom and provided background papers of gold and silver leaf and assorted asian paper..... I always love the anticipation of the first day ...

Metal Collage

Techniques

I have posted images from a workshop in Minnesota. It was a wonderful class full of talented artists . Following is just a sampling of techniques from participants.

Below...Joyce and Lori playing with texture

Tissue paper collage

Scraps of materials from table of Joyce Francis.

Textured leaf surface

Metal Collage techniques

A few more techniques. I'm sorry I don't remember whose projects these were ...for those of you in the workshop who recognize your work let me know so I can credit you ....

The first is a leafed and textured piece...imitation gold and silver leaf over a textured background of gesso.
I usually have the class do this in real gold and silver as it makes a stunning presentation.

The following is a start for a tissue paper collage.

Abstract acrylic play with gold foiling

Another beautiful Patina on leafed surface by Lynn Ohlhorst....

Raw patinas

Here are a few examples of some raw patinas on leafed (imitation gold and silver leaf) papers. They make wonderful backgrounds or papers to be torn for collage. I'm facsinated with the rich colors and random blotches of gold and silver peaking through.
And....you never know what you will get. That element of surprise and wonder is what excites me ..

Curve-Billed thrasher on saguaro

The day before I headed East, I took these shots of a Curve-billed thrasher on the blossoming Saguaro.
I usually leave before the Saguaro blooms so I was very excited to see this display. The early heat brought the desert alive earlier this year. I was also able to see the beginnings of the dusty purple wash from Ironwood trees......

Rough day

Here a tarantula hawk
is hauling off a tarantula to it's nest. Read about the fascinating drama of these species
interactions...
In getting the picture, at one point, I was clearly annoying the tarantula hawk wholeft the spider for a bit to a buzz and advance toward me . I backed off quickly They have a nasty sting. ...He was really defending his prize and was not to be deterred.

The desert comes alive!

It was a beautiful windy day so I thought I would go out on a good hike while the weather was cool.
Good thing I did, I would have missed a lot!

On the way up the mountain (Trail to petroglyphs ) I ran into these two amazing desert dwellers. At first I thought this snake was innocuous, remembering something about "red against yellow killing a fellow" so ..hey, no yellow, I'm good. What I learned later is that it could be yellow or white! The distinguishing factor here is the black head extending past his eyes .
Yep...An Arizona Coral Snake.
The head and mouth being so small though, unless someone is just being really stupid and handling the snake, the chances of being bitten are rare. Just the same, it was a thrill of the day.

The landscape pic is right around where I saw the snake.

Another great find was a collared lizard. He was very accomodating in his posing for me. I was able to get pretty close.

Great day outside. Now the wind is really whipping up .

Cherry blossoms and Nyla

These blossoms were out in full in Oregon. We looked out our window to these masses of pink and white. I thought the picture of Nyla (Johanna's cat) went perfectly with them.

She is very beautiful in the bookcase

Bandon, Oregon

On a recent trip to Oregon the guys played golf at Bandon Dunes golf course while I walked the beaches in the area gathering collage material for my workshop as well as inspiration.

Walk in the desert

A few new things are blooming and things are starting to move about in the desert.

Below are a few new wildflowers popping up . I like the contrast of the fragile little flowers against the spiny and tough textured cactus. I think this little yellow is a yellow comet or in the Loasa family. Below that is a Blue Dick. (Dichelostemma...lily family)

Finally, at the end of the hike I caught movement as I descended the hill and caught this guy heading across the path. I called to some hikers ahead of me so they could get a shot too. Tempted though I was to get the ultimate shot, I decided not to get too close. He was pretty big, figured 4 0r 5 years.
He was on a mission and really not interested in me so I just let him pass and enjoyed the moment...

ck.

First wildflowers

At first glance, the desert is covered with what looks like a carpet of green grass but on closer inspection....really close...you will find these tiny white flowers in the borage family. Cryptantha sp. I'm not sure what this one is specifically but to give an idea of just how small it is, the flower is about half the size of a pin head.
I loved the first picture as it looks to be dancing.
The leaves on these are very hairy . The Popcorn flower is the common name for a variety here in the Sonoran desert.

Here are the first openings of the Blue Dichelostemmas or more commonly called "blue dicks" or wild hyacinthe. These members of the lily family have long whip like leaves and these lovely flowers emerge early in the Sonoran Spring. The Superstitions are covered with them now in full flower.