Challis Idaho, a quiet historic town today, used to be the largest city in the Custer County.
Founded in 1878, Challis lost many of its original architecture during the 1983 earthquake, but some have been rebuilt. I noticed that all buildings utilize wood as the main material, so the keep the authenticity of the place. This nostalgic place is full of character and a visit here will take you back to the times of the mining and Western history.
The main street is not very long, but full of typical Wild West type of wooden buildings. I got inspired by this picturesque Wild West town and I applied to my photos a painterly look, and uploaded them to my Fine Art America gallery. Just click on them more details:
In the Western regions of the USA, it’s not rare to see animals in the streets. I was however surprised to see a deer running right on the main street of the town. Challis Idaho is definitely a quiet place, no question about 🙂 Well, I decided to make this picture as a digital painting as well, because the scene was quite uncommon to me, not being native of North America, nor of Northern USA.
Obviously, Challis Idaho is a very friendly place, and probably not so quiet in the past… 🙂
The old bar in town, “Bux’s Place Bar”, now closed, have seen better days, for sure… The attracted old neon sign hanging above their entrance my eyes. Most certainly, that was once illuminated at night time.
Revisiting Challis
My husband and I revisited Challis in the fall of 2021. Good news: we had the pleasant surprised to see that Bux’s Place saloon reopened its doors to the public. Now the locals and tourists have again a place to hang around 🙂 It looks like also the sign has been updated.
This time I was able to take some more photos of this so interesting and picturesque Wild West place. Here is another historic wooden building with the sign that reads “The Challis Messenger” – probably a newspaper place. However, from other signs I learned that it also has been a saloon. At different points in time, the building was Watson and Jordan Saloon in 1880 and Black’s Saloon in 1904. Wow! I also uploaded this image to my Fine Art America gallery. Click on it for prints:
It was a gorgeous sunny autumn day, and I walked a little on the streets of this town, with the camera in hand. I liked to observe the small houses from the “grandma’s time”, full of character, and this is one of them. The filtered light coming from the big trees on the sides of it attracted my eyes and I decided to give it a painterly look in the digital media.
But talking about making my photos painterly in the digital media, this is what I’ve seen on the way to Challis. It was a small meadow by the side of the Salmon river, with beautiful autumn colors:
For the fun of challenges, I posted this to: RDP Sunday – Hang
Alhambra complex in Granada, Spain is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, visited by thousands of tourists every month, regardless the season. ** I uploaded most of these pictures to the print on demand galleries I’m participating in. By clicking on them you will see a diversity of options.
According to the ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA, the Moorish fortress and palace date back to 1238 and 1358. Built on a plateau the complex overlooks the city of Granada, with a beautiful view.
Alhambra is a hot travel destination in both senses: popularity and temperature wise. At least it was at the end of May when we visited it. The sense of the heat may also subconsciously come from the red outer walls, built with rammed earth. – BTW, the name Alhambra in Arabic means “Red”.
The place is very busy and rather boisterous… There is always a huge waiting line to buy tickets to get inside. It is definitely wise to book ahead of time otherwise you can miss the inside tour. We did…
Don’t worry, if you miss the entrance into the palace, there are still plenty of things to see from the outside. They are inextricably related and connected to the Spanish history and culture. As a matter of fact, a whole lot of diversity of interesting things. You can see the old walls, beautiful architectural elements and the gardens.
This one for instance is a view of the water fountains inside the garden of the Palacio de Generalife. I got inspired and made it as a watercolor using the digital media:
** I’m proud to say that I sold this picture of the Palacio de Generalife, several times from my RedBubble print on demand gallery 🙂
Below is another picture showing part of the Alhambra complex and garden. – I digitally enhanced it for a more artistic look, and also sold it from one of my print on demand sites. The link here will bring you to my Fine Art America gallery. By clicking on it you will see more details about the print and also a diversity of options.
** Again, I’m proud to say that I sold this picture of Alhambra Gardens – Granada, Spain as art prints from my Society 6 print on demand gallery, several times 🙂
** Featured words: Diversity, Boisterous, inextricable
Most people know about Ottawa the Capital of Canada. It is not the largest city in the country, but in my opinion is the nicest. My husband and lived there for six years, so I got a gazillion photos of it.
The image above for instance, is a collage intended to say the word OTTAWA. I made it with elements I photographed at the Parliament building.
Most of the photographs below are part of my Fine Art America – Ottawa gallery, where they are available as art prints for wall, home decor and accessories.
* Click on them for a larger view!
Talking about history, Centennial Flame in front of the parliament is a symbolic monument that commemorates Canada’s 100th anniversary as a Confederation. It consists of a water fountain with a flame on top decorated with the shields of Canada’s 13 provinces and territories. It stands in front of the Parliament building in Ottawa, as a piece of urban art a Canadian landmark.
The building of the Canadian Parliament is without doubt the most significant building in the city. For those who don’t know, Canada is part of the Commonwealth system, so the parliament is similar to what you find in London, UK.
This is a view of the Parliament hill in Ottawa from across the Ottawa river, more precisely the Gatineau park. The area is called the Outaouais region, and is part of the National Capital Region.
Gatineau Park (French: Parc de la Gatineau) is also home to the Museum of Civilizations. The image below is a view of the Parliament Hill and the tour-boat taken from the terrace of the museum. You can see not only the Governmental buildings but also the famous Chateau Laurier. In between them the Rideau Canal merges into the Ottawa River. I also uploaded this picture to my Fine Art America Gallery:
In the winter the landscape is totally different. This is a photo I took while walking in the Gatineau park at the golden/blue hour in the afternoon, as the sun was going down. No boats crossing 🙂
I SOLD a Floating Acrylic Print of this picture from my Society6 gallery
I also SOLD the black and white print of the Rideau Canal at wintertime, two times from my Fine Art America gallery 🙂
Thank you buyers for the purchase of a sticker and a framed print of my picture! 🙂 Click on the images for a larger view:
But in the summer, there is even a bus taking tourists on a cruise on Ottawa river! – Yes you read correctly. I’m talking about an amphibian bus called “Lady Dive” and it starts in Gatineau, Quebec, crosses the river and and makes the tour of the capital. Oh, Quebec-ers love boating!
No, you don’t have to rely on the bus to go from Quebec to Ontario 🙂 There are several bridges crossing this river. I think that the busiest one is the Alexandra bridge. I took this picture from the Ottawa’s Parliament Hill, at night with long exposure for a more artistic look.
Downtown Ottawa the capital of Canada
Talking about “artistic” here is a picture of Wellington street. It follows the river and goes right by the parliament and other historic buildings. I made it as a digital painting. I hope you like it, because I have some more done this way 🙂
In a rainy day of autumn the street looks a little different though… 🙂
I actually SOLD a framed of this print as well 🙂 Thank you buyer from Oakville, ON – Canada!
Traveling Ottawa, Canada
If you plan to travel to the Canadian capital, here is the map of it:
Going from East to West, you first see the Fairmont Hotel also called Chateau Laurier. It was built in 1912 the year of the Titanic. In 2012 the hotel and the old train station across the street celebrated a century of existence.
The famous Rideau Canal goes right by them discharging it’s waters into Ottawa river.
** The Canal connects the capital to Lake Ontario and the Saint Lawrence River. According to the statistics, it is 202 kilometres long, and in 2007 it was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site
But let’s follow the street: Next is where you will see most of the medieval-like government buildings. * You may recognize the clock on the Parliament tower I used on the top image 🙂
And here we go with the Parliament building in all it’s splendor 🙂
Of course I took a lot of photos on this place, outside and inside, but I think that these two are quite interesting. It was on Canada Day (1st of July).
But what I liked most to photograph were the reflections of the historic architecture into the new glass and steel modern buildings across the street. This is a tour-bus going by, which it makes an additional reflection on the move 🙂
There are a lot of interesting things to see and do in Ottawa. For now however, I will end the story with the Art Museum with it’s modern building and the spider sculpture. I wrote about Maman the Giant Spider on my GiftSmart site.
Oh, I would still like to add some pictures made into mixed media digital painting. I took them in the area of the well known Byward Market in Ottawa at wintertime:
From carriage riding to motorcycles:
Talking about wintertime, I’d like to finish with this beautiful view of the Christmas Eve night in at the Ottawa Parliament in a blizzard. Just click on it to see it in my gallery:
I’m sure I’ll have the opportunity to tell you more about Ottawa the Capital of Canada in further coming posts. In the meantime, you can see more picture of the Canadian capital in my Fine Art America gallery I hope you liked what you have seen so far 🙂
lens-artists photo challenge # 82 – capital