Inspiration From the Desert: COLOR!!!

The fruit of the Pindo Palm can be used for jelly.

It never ceases to amaze me how vibrant color is in the desert.

From the car or an airplane, it can appear so....brown...dry...dusty. On foot, its true complexity reveals itself.

Jeff and I just returned from our annual vacation. Normally, we go to Mexico and relish all it has to offer. This year we decided to shake things up and visit Tucson, AZ. One of our favorite things to do is walk. Or second vacation pleasure is taking tons, and tons of photos of anything that strikes our fancy. We like to call these "hiking tours", photo safaris. Over the years, I've noticed some ongoing themes are architecture and nature. Sure there'll be the occasional food, person, or dog photos, but most of the pics tend to be plants and architecture. We also tend to look and re-look at our images throughout the year.  These reference photos seem warm us during the cold Winter months.  

This post is the first of a few that I'll be doing about color, texture, form and pattern. It's my chance to show you some of the "reference" photos from our trips and see how they inspire my work. 

Enjoy!

The magenta on this flower was electric!!!

This dusty blue, combined with the red fence tops, yellow Palo Verde blossoms, and orange adobe wall  just sang to me.

I love how the green of this cactus is silver or gray in parts and then vivid yellow in others. Don't over look that amazing blossom. I love how the light shines through its opaque petals.  Wow!!!

This is possibly one of my favorite color combos. I love how the teal trim balances or soothe the acid yellow adobe. Delicious!