Drought Tolerant Series

One thing you will find a lot of of in California are succulents. I photograph these often. For starters, they are easy to photograph because they are still.  They are like sculptures. And I love this about them. They make excellent subject for black and white work.  Their clean lines, odd formations, and interesting shapes draw me in.

So imagine how striking it was to walk into my local OSH and discover a very large, very white looking flower called "Chalk Live Forever".

The sales rep, who is very knowledgeable, talk to me about it. And I just had to bring it home.  It is about 9 inches in diameter and it has this chalky powder that seems to cover it. When I processed it, it almost looks like a stone lotus. In spring, if I am lucky, a long chalky stalk will rise up from the lotus and drop a chandelier-like spray of small red flowers. Fingers Crossed!

Then there is this fiery stalk from the Spider Aloe.

They claim that it is one of the slowest grown succulents out there. Well, if that is true, then this one at in Carmel Valley, California must have been ancient because it was a huge mass of spidery fronds that I am sure had plenty of really big juicy REAL spiders hiding inside.

These are just a couple of samples from my current showing at Aloft Gallery on Washington Street in Sonora. If you are passing through, please stop and visit and see all the other wonderful artists in the gallery!