Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Amid the Rocks...

After our adventures at the antique mall, we made our way to the Howard Johnson to check out the gem show there. We only saw a fraction of the vendors, but I feel like we had a good time exploring and finding treasures.

Above: Baba, Dawn and Holly pose with giant specimens of petrified wood.

One of the reasons why I love taking the workshop to the dusty strip that the Howard Johnson is situated on, is that it was one of the first shows that I saw when I first came to Tucson. I remember what it was like to marvel at the giant dinosaur bones and the geodes bigger than a house and the piles and piles of semi-precious stones. I can remember the slightly sordid feeling of going into hotel rooms, laden with strands of beads artfully arranged (or in some cases, draped over the toilet).
It was a treat to take them around and introduce them to some of my favorite vendors and seek out rocks, crystals, and beads. Above is an image of a semi-precious stone half submerged in water. Often times they'll have the stones in oil or water to show off their bright colors and give the illusion of a tumbled sheen.

Scattered in piles along the ground were glassy-smooth stones in bright, candy colors like fuchsia and electric blue. It looked like the surface of another world!

I took the first session here. We tread the same path. They posed in the same place, dwarfed by the giant geode. For a brief moment, I could almost see Meryl and Charlene posing along side Holly, Baba and Dawn.

The day, walking through the dusty paths and through seedy corridors, was bright. It sparkled like the gems and jewels we passed. The moments glittered like crystals amid the rocks.

3 comments:

Brenda Salzano said...

Love that rock pic!! great colors, have enjoyed following along your adventure all week!

Andrew Thornton said...

Thanks so much! I think that the rock glowing in the sunlight and reflecting in the water is probably one of the better ones that I've taken. Thank you for following along and enjoying the desert with me.

Gaea said...

You put such love into all you do!