outstanding in the alley

 This is a really cool mural painted along an alley wall in central Tucson.  Click on pics for larger views...

Lots of great elements on this mural, gotta love the all the creatures.  What's your favorite creature in this wall mural?

Ted DeGrazia's Gallery in the Sun from the ground

 My longtime blog visitors know that I really like the Ted DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun, a free art gallery found in north Tucson.  On a visit this morning, just to try something different, I took all the pictures for this blog post from the ground.  The picture above shows three of the many rooms in the gallery with a bench in the furthest room.

 here is the back room with the bench on the left that was shown in the first picture

 Looking up at one of the many fireplaces, interesting wall textures on the left and right.

 a skull resting in another fireplace

 still on the ground, now out in the courtyard area

 this lizard was exceptionally patient while I took several pictures

 you have to be careful not to get stuck by sharp horns found on many desert plants

 Outside in the little chapel -- ceiling on top, wall mural, adobe wall

 Angels flying around a corner area in the memorial area of the chapel

a tall agave stalk seems to check out a figure on top of a stone sculpture

For some of my past pictures of this gallery taken from a normal height, click here and also here.  If you ever find yourself in the area (Tucson, AZ, 6300 N. Swan), its well worth the visit.

Happy Rooster murals

Murals on the front of the Happy Rooster Cafe on South Sarnoff Drive.

spotted owl

A couple of weeks ago I drove past this telephone pole on Cortaro Farms Road.  Needless to say, I had to pull a U turn to go back and check it out.

Its kind of unusual to see an owl perched on a telephone pole in the middle of the day, let alone canvasing the area like this.  Nicely done!

It certainly makes for a distinctive marker for this side dirt road.

warehouse mural

While stopping by Roma Imports Italian Grocery and Deli today I spotted this cool mural on a warehouse across the street.  First visit for me to Roma's -- I've heard a number of people rave about their handmade frozen oven ready meals and finally decided to stop by to pick up a few things to try out.

one o'clock shadow

I drove past this large vertical sundial in Oro Valley at one o'clock today.  Those are the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson in the background, which top out a little above 9000 ft elevation and have a nice pine forest on top.

More information and pictures of this 20+ ft tall, 5 ton sundial can be found at the North American Sundial Society.

Cast steel shadows

While out trimming sharp spiny branches (ouch) in my yard this morning I took a few pictures of shadows cast by an abstract windmill.  The top rotates, which made it easy to set up the long "tail" shadow cast above.

Tucson Folk Festival (2011)

 This year's festival shirt design for the 26th annual Tucson Folk Festival -- southwestern flair with musical instrument clouds floating past, very cool.  Last weekend's free event downtown featured two full days of folk music on four different stages.  Here are a few pics of my weekend wanderings...

 Karen Mal from Austin, Texas blends Irish and Appalachian styles into contemporary folk music.

 I suspected that this guy thought there was a blues festival downtown, but after I posted the picture on facebook a friend identified him as a local librarian.  This really surprised me, since most of the librarians I've seen are, well, red. 

 The available chairs migrated throughout the day seeking out shade such as this at the Courtyard Stage.

 Tom Adler & Aimee Hoyt from New Mexico with Laura Leach on upright bass and Dave Devlin on mandolin.  Plaza Stage.

 Bright & Childers at the Courtyard Stage.

 Hank Childers sang a great song about washing machines at Princeton.

 The Agave Brothers threw down a great set.  I couldn't find any CDs for them.

 Sometimes you just can't get the right angle with your own camera...  That's when it pays to look for other cameras to bounce off of such as zooming in on this tripod mounted camera about 15 feet away from me.  Much nicer camera than I use!

 I really enjoyed listening to Púca -- Tucson based Claire Zucker and Dave Firestine featuring mandolin, Irish drumming, clogging.  Claire has an amazing voice and expression and sang an outstanding Irish folksong worthy of a standing ovation.  I'll definitely keep my eyes open for their performances.

 Michael McGarrah started out the day Sunday morning at the Courtyard Stage with some great tunes and lyrics.

 Arizona Balalaika Orchestra at the Museum Stage playing native Slavic instruments.  They played an amazing version of the theme from Doctor Zhivago, one of my favorite movies.

 Happy dog, Sleepy dog.

 A true bird's eye view from a spectator's shoulder listening to Nowhere Man & Whiskey Girl from Bisbee, AZ.  Seems like the bird needs glasses?  Quite a few people had dogs with them, this guy with a bird, and one guy actually had a house cat on a lease of all things.

 A better bird's eye view of the Courtyard Stage area and folks listening to Nowhere Man & Whiskey Girl.  I really liked this group and bought one of their CDs.

Dana Hubbard had two other musicians sit in with him for his set, including Karen Mal who was catching the last rays of a setting sun at the Museum Stage.  His web site has some great audio samples. 

The Tucson Folk Festival is a great annual event put on by the Tucson Kitchen Musicians Association.  Well worth checking out next year if you're in the area.