Summer Solstice Celebration

Every year, Santa Barbara has a huge summer solstice parade and party in two of the city parks. I've never seen anything like this parade, but from what I've heard, Mardi Gras is probably the closest comparison. The theme for the parade this year is Creatures.

 The sun was probably 20 feet tall. It's body parts were made from flowing fabric. This is my favorite photo of the day.

 This looks like some sort of creature that would live in the woods.

This alien wore old school curlers on her head, carried a baby alien in her arms, mopped the ground, and dusted the crowd.  Definitely a multi-tasker. 

And what is this thing coming up the street?

It's a giant octopus like bubble with a woman inside doing acrobats on a ring. What a great finale!

The party continued at the park, but my camera wasn't invited.

Venice Beach, California

I've never seen anyplace quite like Venice Beach. I've heard CA referred to as "The Land of Fruits and Nuts" and never quite understood it until this past weekend! What a colorful bunch of people! Here's a photo of Muscle Beach. Basically, it's an outdoor gym where muscle bound men show off.Look very close - see if you can find "Tree Man" hidden in among the palm tree. He's a walking, talking, 8 foot tree from the land of Lanoce (combination of Land and Ocean).

Here's a closer view of him. You should be able to see his mouth, chin and neck in this photo. If you really want to see more, look for him on Facebook!Many of the buildings have murals painted on them. This happens to be a knock-off of my favorite Vincent Van Gogh painting.Here's a detail of another mural full of alien creatures. I like the slogan on his T-shirt "You Can't Until You Say You Can". Very True.

This is nothing like Santa Barbara where graffiti has to be painted over within 24 hours or you get fined mega bucks. I guess every tourist area has a different audience. Venice Beach is a blast from the past! I'm glad I went, but I probably won't be going back any time soon.

ATC Trade

These are my offerings for the ATC trade tomorrow. If you are in Santa Barbara, stop by to meet a great group of artists at the Good Cup Cafe on the Mesa.

Some of the backgrounds have a bleached design, others have been monoprinted using Sherrill's Sorbet paint. I really love the great assortment of colors and the great coverage of this paint is truely amazing.I had lots of fun playing with the positive and negative shapes, circles punched from aluminum foil and recycled receipts.

¡Viva La Fiesta!

August 1 - 5 is Old Spanish Days in Santa Barbara. Tourists invade the city by the thousands and the whole city becomes a very large party.

There are many different activities throughout the city. Wednesday night at the mercado, we attended a free concert by Hollywood U2. Tonight is the Rodeo and tomorrow is the childrens parade and tomorrow night is the Flamenco dancers at the Courthouse.

Here is a vasquero showing his roping technique, he was really good.

Beautiful costumes can be seen throughtout the city.

One of the hundreds of beautiful horses in the parade.

The cascarones are definitely one of the Fiesta highlights. Colorful confetti is contained inside every egg. You sneak up on people and crack the egg on their head and confetti goes flying everywhere. It will take six months for the confetti to disappear d0wntown!

California Photos

I thought I would take a few moments to post some of my favorite "scenic" photos of where I live in California. It is located about 10 miles north of Santa Barbara or in the middle of the state, right along the ocean. We (bloggers) interact with people all over the world on a daily basis and probably don't know much about where we are from. Hope you enjoy the little tour.

This is my favorite park in the downtown Santa Barbara area. There are massive Koi and turtles that live in the pond. A Blue Heron flew in to fish while I was taking photos. There are many wonderful plants and trees. The tree with the red flowers blooming in the background is called a Coral tree.

This is a sunrise photo at East Beach. It is a popular tourist area and is very beautiful. There is a wharf with shopping and restaurants, a breakwater where you can walk out between the harbor and ocean and a walking/bike path following the beach for many miles.

This is a very interesting photo of downtown Santa Barbara with snow on the mountains. The elevation of these mountains are 2,000 ft. This is the only time in the 29 years that I have lived here that snow has fallen that low. You may be able to see all the Spanish architecture, red tiled roofs and palm trees.