Monday, July 6, 2009

Cactus Monday - Purple

In art, purple is found on the color wheel between magenta and violet. In nature, some plants and flowers are purple, as is amethyst and sometimes mountains and sunsets. My favorite t-shirt happens to be light purple and so are the metal frames of my glasses. For today's Cactus Monday challenge I looked for images that have the color purple as well as something that relates to cactus.
Purple Prickly Pear on Sabino Canyon Nature Loop Trail (March)

New Mexico Thistle on Sabino Lake Trail (March)

Cholla cacti near Visitor Center (April)

Where is the purple in the picture of people boarding a tram?
Looking closer, it appears to be a purple themed wedding at Sabino Canyon. I see a purple bouquet and purple shirts.

(July 4, 2009)

Arizona Vanity License Plates

Purple Saguaro Bus Bench on Sabino Canyon Road

Details in ceramic tile of public artwork at
Tucson Intl Airport and University of Arizona

Purple Peppers in Mitchell Park Desert Dome (June)

Upper Sabino Canyon Road evening and morning (June)

Several of Van Gogh's paintings featured purple irises. And, in the third version of his Bedroom in Arles, he painted the walls pale purple to make the room look bigger and to "give an atmosphere of quiet and dreaming."

Leonardo da Vinci believed that the power of meditation increases ten times when done in a purple light, as in the purple light of stained glass.

Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple said, "I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it."

For more fun Cactus Monday posts, visit Teri's Painted Daisies.

Another purple post: This week at Reach Beyond Limits, Icy BC features purple flowers found growing in her yard.

More vanity license plates at The Vanity Of It All.

27 comments:

Teri said...

Wo you did an outstanding job on finding purple in the desert!!! Love those purple prickly pear and that purple Saguaro bench is awesome!!! And a purple wedding-wowzers, how perfect is that!!

HCM!

marianne said...

Wonderful purple post!
I love purple
HCM!

Margaret Ann said...

What a clever idea for a cactus Monday post...My most favorite photo was of the tile art pieces...so very clever...Tucson has such an amazing variety of public art...A wonderful celebration of the desert you have here today! Beautiful job! :)

Peonies & Magnolias said...

Purple was my daughter's favorite color growing up. Love those cactus and your photos are so pretty.

Sandy

Glynis Peters said...

What a great post! Lovely colour, the colour purple.

Diane AZ said...

My daughter's favorite color growing up was also purple. I wore library gray (a grayish purple)to her wedding in New England last summer. Her bridesmaids wore honeydew (light green).

Betsy Banks Adams said...

I love purple, Diane. I have worn it for years --and always enjoy wearing it. BUT--I learned something today. I would never have thought of PURPLE in the DESERT. So interesting!!!

Great post.
Hugs,
Betsy

Prospero said...

The purple prickly pear and cholla cacti are my favorites. Last night, I transplanted a prickly pear cactus. Purple or not - it's a real experience! Interesting stuff about da Vinci.

Gaelyn said...

Love your purple cactus shots. I'd have said the mountains were purple instead of the wedding party.

I love to look at license plates.

Leslie said...

Love all the purple. I must have ESP - I'm wearing a purple T-shirt and my favorite new purple shoes today. Happy Cactus Monday!

Jannie Funster said...

I LOVE the Alice Walker quote, what a neat thought! Been so long since I've seen that movie, and never did read the book. I think I'll put it on my list.

Cathy S. said...

Fantastic post! love the purples, HCM!

-Cathy

betchai said...

i love purple and anything that as shade of pink, magenta and blue. very interesting post. love the pictures here again, especially that of the purple sky in upper sabino canyon road. and wow, you have lots of everything purple.

oh, maybe i should start joining cactus monday next monday, as I really am a fan of cactus and love them. I should remind myself of that.

Diane AZ said...

Betchai, Cactus Monday is fun! Even though I'm surrounded by cactus, I never knew I was a such a fan. It is wonderful to see people enjoying and sharing these prickly expressions of nature.

deedee said...

Purple wedding at the canyon - what a cool idea! And that purple cactus bus stop - how cool! Fantastic purple finds.... I am going to look closer at the bus stops here.

Phoenix C. said...

Amazing! I love this post - what a diversity of purple - even a wedding! I love those ceramic tiles. And the bus stop!

Unknown said...

Not only are you an amazing photographer in composition and artistic design but you show here you are a really good story teller. It is really great the way you spun the tail of PURPLE with themes of color of the obvious as well as the subtle. From the story of love on the purple bus to the trash can in the park. Very, very cleaver. I so admire your artistic eye.

•°°• IcyBC •°°• said...

Beautiful purple cactus..That's unique! And you've found so many different purple things, Diane.

Also, thanks for the mention!

Lisa at Greenbow said...

This is one of my favorite colors and a great presentation of purple too. Happy Cactus Monday.

Silver Fox said...

Neat to find so much purple (one of my favorite colors). I especially love the purple prickly pear (#1), the purple cholla, and the purple faux saguaro.

Julie said...

What a neat post! I love the purple saguaro bus stop!!! How cool is that?????

yoon see said...

Wow! I super love purple too!
I don't know that cactus also comes in purple. Love the 1st, 2nd, 3rd photos.
Ooh, giant cactus....and cool ceramic cactus art tiles...!
I want to dream some purple cactus dream!

Stephanie said...

The purple cactus is beautiful! The purple pepper is interesting... edible?

Lance said...

These are great Diane - I love the first purple cactus photo, and the sunset shot at the end!

Ramakrishnan said...

Hi
Greetings from Coimbatore, India. Just passing by and logged in.Awesome shots. Pure joy & ecstasy. Really enjoyed this.
Have a great day.
Ram

Rajesh said...

Beautiful shot. I had never seen purple cactus before.

vuejardin said...

So colorful cactus, this is the first time I see the purple one.