If Medusa decided to go green

…this might be the result if she were turned to glass (rather than a pillar of salt like Lot’s wife.)

Darling, who IS your stylist? Those curls are divine!

Blue, blue, my world is blue.

We enter the garden, we’re stunned by the boat…then we look up to behold a forest of slender trees or perhaps reeds unmoved by any wind. Surrounded by stout, prickly cacti guardians, they rise gracefully, some straight, others in sinuous shapes.

“I need the shade of blue that rips your heart out. You don’t see that type of blue around here.”
― Cath Crowley, Graffiti Moon

Let’s go a little closer.

“If magic was a colour,
That colour would be sparkling blue”
― Lucy H. Pearce,

Then we’ll let the camera takes us where we’re not physically allowed to go…in amongst the creations.

“Humans get hungry for blue, it seems: to hold the sea in their hands, to wear the sky in their hair, to drape themselves in the hazy blue of distant mountains. Blue is more than a colour: it is a feeling. We don’t say that we feel orange or purple, but we say we feel blue when our souls are sad and heavy. We
play or sing or listen to the blues to express this sensation. Like any colour, it cannot be adequately described with words, only experienced, known through the eyes and the soul.

Making blue has always been magic: the domain of alchemists since the beginning of human history. To find red only required blood or berries or the smearing of red clay. To make brown was as simple as
reaching down to the earth beneath one’s feet. White chalk is plentiful in many places, or can be replaced by fire ash. But blue appears rarely in forms from which paints or dyes can be made…blue requires earthly magic.”
― Lucy H. Pearce, She of the Sea

More vitamin C

Let’s enjoy a last round of oranges before we head outside to see what beauties lurk there. I left with my senses stunned.

Just sharing an onion ring together

Six Word Saturday 1.15.21

Friday fantasy under the sea

I think when you see the details of the parts of this installation/exhibit, you’ll understand why it reminds me of some underwater fantastic creatures down in the depths of the ocean.

I wouldn’t mind finding some shells like these as I walk along the shore!

I think the shape of this outer “shell” may be my favorite…at least until I see the next one. 🙂 But Chihuly’s work is like that.

When you turn the corner

I admit to being a bit frustrated by WP because when I look at my favorite part of the indoor installation (or maybe tied for first with the first installation I shared), the colors don’t appear as nearly as deep and bright as they were and as they look on my iPad. So using your imagination, picture yourself rounding the corner from the other room to behold these marvelous creations, all rich shades of yellow/orange/gold, deep and vibrant against a dark background, looking like some sorts of extraordinary sea creatures in the quiet deep.

Now turn around to look back (and ignore my husband’s fingers that sneaked their way into my photo but weren’t noticed by me until I went to get ready to insert it into the post.) I do have photos on my camera sans fingers, I imagine, but we’re in the process of getting my mom into a care home and there are so many things to do: papers to fill out, forms to be taking to the doctor’s office, decisions of all sorts to be made, and then the ongoing daily things such as getting my parents’ main meal ready, cleaning, etc., and I haven’t had a chance to upload any photos, so enjoy looking at what that finger is showing you and have a grand Wednesday. Yes, there will be more details and closeups after Thursday Doors tomorrow.

Glass trio

In the second room, there were a number of sculptures which would be more approachable to have in your home (unless you have a mansion), but that were also lovely. Here are three of them. The mark on the wall behind the first piece amused me, making it seem that steam…or perhaps a genie…was emerging from the top.

I love the shadows created by this one as well as the piece itself.

Monday walk…in a forest of beauty

It’s time for a morning walk, although we won’t be walking very far. You’ve already seen just a bit of the Chihuly gems inside the gallery at the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden but let’s take a few minutes to look closer. Here’s a piece I really like, both shape and color, the latter even more intense than you see here.

Here are some more of the paintings. While I can imagine them translated into glass, they also remind me of either some sort of cute space creatures, maybe in a computer game, or germs or something similar observed under the microscope. Either way, they look rather whimsical, although perhaps germs wouldn’t be considered whimsical. Put “whimsical” with the cute space creatures.

There’s a communal table of similarly shaped sculptures but in a variety of colors and levels of transparency. If you look in the background, you’ll see our next destination, although we’ve already ventured into that room.

Although the sculpture (which seems a poor word for such a brilliant creation) is stunning on its own, I found the reflections to be equally dazzling. LLook closer and see if you agree. I could hardly bear to leave this room even though the next room was at least as spectacular and I use that term deliberately.

Jo’s Monday Walk

A time when words are inadequate.

Six Word Saturday 1.8.22

Glassy-eyed in the Garden

The Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix is wonderful on its own but throw in glass creations by Chihuly (whoops, “throw” is probably a bad word around glass) and you ratchet up the descriptive scale to superb, awesome, amazing, etc. I loved the 2014 installation so I was excited to see another starting toward the end of last year and when my husband finally had a day off, away we went, purchasing a year’s membership the night before.

These three creations are permanent in the Garden, greeting visitors throughout the year. They’re quite tall, the better to turn the ever-present sun into a myriad of sparkles.

Most pieces are scattered along the paths that wind through one section of the garden but there’s also a gallery collection indoors. We’ll start there with these glorious creations. Not sure what you’d call them but wouldn’t you love to have one somewhere in your house? (Only if you don’t have children or wild parties!)

I didn’t know Chihuly did art but my guess is that these end up being translated into glass. My husband, who doesn’t like modern art, loved these.

There’s a lot more to see and we’ll see it over these next days. Stay tuned.