You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things.
–-Ray Bradbury
To see the inspiration behind the original digital art, please see the story here.
inspiration
Kaleidoscope #339
You have to protect yourself from sadness. Sadness is very close to hate. Let me tell you this. This is the thing I learned. If you take in someone else’s poison – thinking you can cure them by sharing it – you will instead store it within you. Those men in the desert were smarter than you. They assumed he could be useful. So they saved him, but when he was no longer useful they left him.
― Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient
Below is the original photo used to create this image. This was taken on my last night in Arizona, just outside of Mesa during a recent vacation. The skies had been almost crystal clear, and I was grateful to have a vibrant sunset, I kept excusing myself from dinner to run out to the parking lot to take more pictures. I especially love how the cloud formation looks like a bird in flight, a Phoenix perhaps…? No special lighting or retouching, just a snap from my smart phone.
Kaleidoscope #338
Because I don’t live in either my past or my future. I’m interested only in the present. If you concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man. You’ll see that there is life in the desert, that there are stars in the heavens…Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we’re living right now.
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
Below is the original photo used to create this image. This gathering of saguaro and funky gourd-like cacti were part of the landscaping in front of my Gramma’s house in Mesa, AZ. No special lighting or retouching, just a snap from my smart phone.
Kaleidoscope #337
Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathom’d caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.”
― Thomas Gray, An Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard
Below is the original photo used to create this image. This was taken at the Riparian Preserve in Gilbert, AZ during a recent vacation. This has become one of my favorite spots to see when visiting family in the area. April might possibly have been the best time to visit with everything in bloom. No special lighting or retouching, just a snap from my smart phone.
Kaleidoscope #336
Maybe God created the desert so that man could appreciate the date trees.
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
Below is the original photo used to create this image. This was taken at a scenic view and hiking trail outside of Sedona, AZ during a recent vacation. I was surprised and delighted to find this patch of royal-purple irises. No special lighting or retouching, just a snap from my smart phone.
Kaleidoscope #335
Deserts possess a particular magic, since they have exhausted their own futures, and are thus free of time. Anything erected there, a city, a pyramid, a motel, stands outside time. It’s no coincidence that religious leaders emerge from the desert. Modern shopping malls have much the same function. A future Rimbaud, Van Gogh or Adolf Hitler will emerge from their timeless wastes.
― J.G. Ballard, The Atrocity Exhibition
Below is the original photo used to create this image. This was taken at the Riparian Preserve in Gilbert, AZ during a recent vacation. This has become one of my favorite spots to see when visiting family in the area. April might possibly have been the best time to visit with everything in bloom. No special lighting or retouching, just a snap from my smart phone.
Kaleidoscope #334
Somewhere someone is traveling furiously toward you,
At incredible speed, traveling day and night,
Through blizzards and desert heat, across torrents,
through narrow passes.
But will he know where to find you,
Recognize you when he sees you,
Give you the thing he has for you?”
― John Ashbery
Below is the original photo used to create this image. This was taken at the Grand Canyon during a morning hike along the southern rim on the Greenway Trail. I’m still fascinated by the stark beauty of this dead tree, juxtaposed against the vibrant green of the pine and the watercolor sky. No special lighting or retouching, just a snap from my smart phone.
Kaleidoscope #333
Long since, the desert wind wiped away our footprints in the sand. But at every second of my existence, I remember what happened, and you still walk in my dreams and in my reality. Thank you for having crossed my path.
― Paulo Coelho, The Fifth Mountain
Below is the original photo used to create this image. This was taken at the Grand Canyon during the tail end of the sunset golden hour. The colors were glorious and I’m so pleased with the watercolor intensity. No special lighting or retouching, just a snap from my smart phone.
Quote of the Day – A messy house is…
A messy house is a must – it separates your true friends from other friends. Real friends are there to visit you not your house!
–Jennifer Wilson
To see the inspiration behind this original digital art, please see the story here.
Kaleidoscope #332
The next time that boy pursues you, he better do it like a dying man looking for water in a desert. When it’s the right guy, you’ll know, because he’ll cherish you.”
― Karen Kingsbury, Leaving
Below is the original photo used to create this image. This was taken at the Riparian Preserve in Gilbert, AZ during a recent vacation. This has become one of my favorite spots to see when visiting family in the area. April might possibly have been the best time to visit with everything in bloom. No special lighting or retouching, just a snap from my smart phone.
D.M. Sessous: writer, artist & dreamer 