San Rafael Valley, AZ ~~ Photo by Bill Haas

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Shou Ping

One of two featured artists at the Wildflower Center was Shou Ping.  Her work is exquisite and unique in that first she paints (using watercolors), and then she cuts and pastes. Sound simple?  Not so fast!  She reassembles the intricate watercolor cut outs into a three dimensional paper sculpture.  Each and every single element of the work, petal, leaf, pistil, stamen, creatures, is painstakingly recreated into a sculpture bit by tiny bit on a fresh sheet of paper.  While Ms. Ping allowed me to photograph her work, they were taken through protective glass so details are a bit cloudy and difficult to make out.  Google "Shou Ping" if you want more information about her work or exhibitions.   








The garden sculptures ran the gamut from creative and lovely to creative and what-were-they-smoking-?!






Monday, March 30, 2009

WILD!

Wildflower bloom hadn't peaked in the Texas Hill Country when I breezed through in mid-March.  Nevertheless, the "show" was more than adequate for this wildflower junkie.  If wildflowers aren't your bag, you should probably skip the next few pages.
Phlox
Drummond Onion
Fleabane
Penstemon
Evening Primrose
Plains Coreopsis
Texas Greeneyes
UNK!
Blue-Eyed Grass
Showy Primrose
Baby Blue Eyes
Stiffstem Flax
Blackfoot Daisy
Texas Paintbrush
Golden  Columbine
Prairie Spiderwort
Buckeye


Texas Bluebonnets (Lupine)

Dandelions!
It's a flea market.  It's an antique mall.  No, it's white elephants as far as the eye can see.  It's one person's junque and another person's treasures.  (And if you're wondering "Where's Blue Boy?" you're older than dirt too!)































ROUNDTOP...

...the terminus of a 15-mile emporium along Highway 237 known as the Great Texas Antique Weekend that begins in Warrenton, TX.  But of course you can buy stuff during the "Preview" weekend, the "Set Up" weekend, the "Take Down" weekend, and any day in between during early April!



















Not a watch dog!








Not a watch dog either--more like, "Where's my human?"