Welcome to Tom's Fine Art Gallery. Buy these favorite photographs for your home or business:
Mountain Landscapes || Water Landscapes ( Seascapes , Waterfalls , Rainbows , Rivers & Streams , Lakes , Weather ) || Abstract Patterns ( Natural , Human ) || City Landscapes ( Doors , Architecture , Artwork ) || Animals ( Mammals , Birds , Reptiles , Fish , Insects ) || Flora ( Fall Colors , Trees , Plants , Flowers , Fungi & Lichen ) || Desert Landscapes

Right: Seattle, Washington, USA: summer sunset (published)

Cityscapes

Below are some of my favorite images which I suggest as fine art to buy for your home or office. Click any image to see more from that area:

(Click to see more from:) Oia, Santorini Island, GREECE: churches and rugs

Above: Oia clings to the rim of a sunken volcano on Santorini Island, GREECE. (Image published in June 2002 PC Photo Magazine.)

Above: I captured this view of downtown Seattle, the Space Needle, Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains at sunset, on July 4, 2007. (I stitched this panorama from 4 images in Seattle, Washington.)

Left: Evening in Oia, Santorini Island, GREECE. (Click the image to see more from the area.) Below right: Afternoon in the same area.

Above: The village of Oia perches on 700-foot high volcanic sea cliffs at the north end of Santorini Island, on Armeni Bay, GREECE. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Below: Beautiful Sydney Harbor (seen from the fascinating Toronga Zoo), AUSTRALIA. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Left: Historic haylofts in Loetschental, in the Alps of SWITZERLAND. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Above right: Fantasticly eroded peaks of conglomerate rock tower above the village of Kastraki. Meteora, GREECE. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Lef: Old Stavanger, NORWAY. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Below right: Viking stave church rebuilt in 1300 AD, at Lom, NORWAY. [Published in Wilderness Travel 1988 Trip Schedule.] (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Left: Patchwork of houses in Stavanger, NORWAY. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Below right: Cobblestone alley in Soglio, which is in the Italian influenced area of SWITZERLAND. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Above: The main church in the town of Scuol, and an old covered bridge crossing the Inn (or En) River, in Lower Engadine, SWITZERLAND. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Left: Located southwest of Paris, FRANCE, the cathedral in Chartres was built in 1200 AD. In 1979, Chartres Cathedral was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Left: Mont Saint Michel, FRANCE. Built in the 11th to 16th centuries, this castle served first as a religious abbey, then as a prison in the 18th century. Connected to the Brittany Peninsula by a causeway, Mont Saint Michel is now one of the most popular tourist attractions in France. In 1979, Mont Saint Michel and its bay were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The tides sweep in and out nine to twelve miles across the surrounding tidal flats twice every 25 hours. The tidal range can reach up to 48 vertical feet, one of the most extreme in the world.

Mont Saint Michel, FRANCE. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Rooftop dining in Istanbul, TURKEY. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Istanbul, TURKEY: Architect Sinan, who wanted to exceed the grandeur of Hagia Sofia Cathedral, built Süleymaniye Imperial Mosque (shown here) on Golden Horn harbor from 1550-1557. Süleyman the Magnificent and his wife are buried here. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Doors & Windows:
(See also: GREECE: Doors of Santorini , GREECE: Doors of Meteora )

Below: rustic house with grape vines in Kastraki, Meteora, GREECE:

A blue door in Huaraz, PERU. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Below: Old window shutters in Athens, GREECE. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Left: Weathered varnished wood door with turquoise trim, Meteora, GREECE. (See also: GREECE: Doors of Meteora ) (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Below right: Weathered yellowish wood door, Meteora, GREECE. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

A blue gate in Oia, Santorini Island, GREECE. (See more at Doors of Santorini, Greece) (Click the image to see more from the area.)

A pink gate in Oia, Santorini Island, GREECE. (See more at Doors of Santorini, Greece) (Click the image to see more from the area.)

A blue door in Oia, Santorini Island, GREECE. (See more at Doors of Santorini, Greece) (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Oia, Santorini: locked varnished door
Locked wood door with red trim. Oia, Santorini Island, GREECE. (See more at Doors of Santorini, Greece) (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Left: Light-blue door in San Telmo, Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Below right: Colorful buildings in La Boca, Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Colorful green and yellow shutters in La Boca, Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Colorful blue and green shutters in La Boca, Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Colorful buildings in La Boca, Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Below right: Old balcony in La Boca, Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Left: Blue and yellow door in La Boca, Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Below right: brown and red doors in La Boca, Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Left: Old weathered blue painted door at Clyde, New Zealand.

Below right: 17th century window in Guarda, SWITZERLAND. Published in Ryder-Walker Alpine Adventures 2006 "Inn to Inn Alpine Hiking Adventures" Catalog. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Left: A red, white and blue colored door in a house in the Khumbu District, in Himalaya of eastern Nepal.

Below: A red and blue-green door in the Khumbu District, in Himalaya of eastern Nepal.

Architecture & Buildings:

Ephesus (or modern Efes), TURKEY: The Library of Celsus, built 114 AD, was named in honor of a Roman governor of Asia Minor (or what the Greeks call Anatolia, or the Turks call Anadolu). (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Left, The Acropolis ("High City"), in Athens, GREECE. The Erechtheion sanctuary is the small building on the left and the huge Parthenon on the middle. In 1987, UNESCO declared the Acropolis to be a World Heritage Site. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Below: During our 2001 visit, the awesome Parthenon was being reconstructed for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. The Parthenon is the largest Doric-column temple ever completed in Greece. It was built in 447-438 BC as a treasury for tribute money moved from Delos Island, and was also dedicated to the worship of Athena, specially designed to contain a huge, 12-meter tall statue of Athina Polias (reproduced below) placed in 432 BC. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Below: Caryatids support the roof of the portico on the Erechtheion sanctuary, which is the most sacred ancient Greek building on the Acropolis. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Above: Moonlight strikes Annapurna I (on the right, 26,545 feet), the world’s 10th highest peak, as seen from Hotel Paradise Garden & Restaurant, at Annapurna South Base Camp (ABC, at 13,550 feet elevation) in the Annapurna Range of Nepal. On the left is Annapurna South, which appears higher in this perspective because it is closer. Stars streak the sky, and the headlamps of motel residents make wavy lines of light as they pass by, in the 3+minute time exposure. (Panorama stitched from 2 images; at 6:50pm October 27, 2007)

Left: Deception Pass bridge rises about 185 feet above the tide, Whidbey Island, Washington. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Below: the Kalogeriko triple-arch stone bridge, 300 years old, near Kipi, Zagoria, GREECE. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Left: Cathedral in Buenos Aires. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

[I also have a nice interior of the Blue Mosque, TURKEY (not shown).]

Below right: Russian Orthodox Church, San Telmo, Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Left: Opera House, Sydney Harbor, New South Wales, AUSTRALIA. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Left: Beautiful Sydney Harbor (seen from the great Toronga Zoo). (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Seattle Public Library, designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, finished in 2004, Washington. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Below: Interior of 2004 Seattle Public Library, Washington. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Left: Exterior of 2004 Seattle Public Library, Washington. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Below right: Admiralty Head Lighthouse (built 1890 to help guide ships into Puget Sound; became obsolete in 1927 when its lantern was removed), Fort Casey State Park, part of Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve, Whidbey Island. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Above: Heceta Head Lighthouse, Oregon, at sunset in winter.

Left: a chorten (stupa, Buddhist monument) at Thyangboche Monastery, Nepal. Buddhism is thought to have been brought into the Khumbu District at the end of the seventeenth century by a lama from the Rongbuk Monastery, located in Tibet just north of Mount Everest. To this day, at the November or December full moon, the lamas at Thyangboche celebrate the Mani Rimdu festival, where they don masks and costumes, and through dances, they dramatize the victory of Buddhism over Bon, the ancient animistic religion of Tibet. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Nevada City ghost town, Montana, USA: Nevada City was a booming placer-gold-mining camp from 1863-1876. A miner's court trial and hanging of George Ives in the main street of Nevada City was the catalyst for forming the Vigilantes, a group of citizens famous for taking justice into their own hands. Now more than 90 buildings from across Montana have been gathered for preservation at Nevada City, mostly owned by the people of the state of Montana, and managed by the Montana Heritage Commission. This fascinating town excites my imagination of what life must have been like in early Montana. In 2001, the excellent PBS television series "Frontier House" used one of the buildings and its furnishings to train families in re-creating pioneer life. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Left: Nevada City ghost town, Montana, USA: Reflections in old-style glass. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Below right: An old wagon rests near a log cabin in Nevada City, a booming placer-gold-mining camp from 1863-1876, infamous in the origin of the Vigilantes, is now an intriguing ghost town managed by the Montana Heritage Commission. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Image above: Montana, USA: Gillian Hall (left) built in the 1880's, served as a store, saloon, and dance hall. Fraternity Hall (right), built in the 1890's, was used for shows, dances, and lodge meetings. The silver, gold and lead mines at Elkhorn began booming in 1875, then declined in 1892 as silver prices dropped. Today, these two original buildings are preserved and open to the public as Elkhorn State Park (managed by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks). A few miners still work the Elkhorn mines and live in private homes near these historic State Park buildings within Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forests. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Above: Yankee Fork Gold Dredge operated from 1940-1952. This floating gold dredge chewed a wide swath leaving tailings along 5.5 miles of the Yankee Fork, a tributary of the Salmon River, near Stanley, Idaho. This is an amazing example of the ever increasing human appetite for minerals scoured from ever more remote areas.

Above: Pressure gauges and valve wheels, inside Yankee Fork Gold Dredge, which operated from 1940-1952, near Stanley, Idaho.

Artworks, Ancient and Modern:

Left: In the Everest Area of Nepal, Mani stones are stone plates, rocks and/or pebbles inscribed, usually with mantra or ashtamangala, as a form of prayer in Tibetan Buddhism. Out of respect, people should walk to the left or clockwise around Mani Walls. Mani stones are placed in mounds or cairns along roadsides and rivers as an offering to spirits of place (or genius loci).

Below: Sagarmatha National Park, in eastern Nepal: These four engraved stone copies of the Tibetan phrase “Om Mani Padme Hum” invoke compassion. Om Mani Padme Hum means “Hail to the jewel in the lotus”. Mani stones are placed in mounds or cairns along roadsides and rivers as an offering to spirits of place (or genius loci).

Crete: reproduction of Minoan bull leaping fresco from 1500 BC.

Above: This is a modern reproduction of the Minoan bull-leaping artwork from 1500 BC uncovered at Knossos. The original 32-inch high fresco is in the Iraklio (or Heraklion) Archaeology Museum. Artists paint frescoes on wet plaster, which allows dyes to sink in for greater permanence, but requires the artist to paint much more quickly than on dry plaster. This affects the flow of line and style. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Left: Fresco from 1500 BC: A man with fishes. [modern reproduction by Spanos, based upon the 53-inch high original]. Volcanic ash preserved Minoan era frescoes such as this at Akrotiri on Santorini Island, GREECE.

(Click the image to see more from the area.)

Below right: Ancient Akrotiri, Santorini Island, GREECE: Pithoi (large storage jars) and bath tubs unearthed from volcanic ash, dating from 1500 BC.

Left: On the West Terrace of Mount Nimrod (or Nemrut Dagi), sunset light falls on a 40-ton head of Greek god Zeus capped with a Persian tiara. (Published in May/June 2003 Sierra Magazine, Sierra Club Outings.)

(Click the image to see more from the area.)

Below: People explore the West Terrace of Mount Nimrod (or Nemrut), as sunset light falls on statues including a 40-ton head of Greek god Zeus capped with a Persian tiara.

Left: This is a sculpture of Antinoos (or Antinous, who lived about AD 110-130), who was the lover and best friend of Roman emperor Hadrian. Hadrian lived AD 76-138 and become one of the few exemplary Roman sovereigns. Hadrian fell in love with the boy Antinous, who accompanied him on his extended trips through the Empire. At age 20, Antinous was drowned, or drowned himself, in the Nile. Cassius Dion recounts that Antinous had learned from an astrologer that he might in this way add his life-span to that of Hadrian's. The sovereign mourned for his friend for the rest of his life. He ordered the foundation of a city, Antinoopolis, at the place where Antinous had died. He surrounded himself with statues and busts of Antinous on his trips, and even more so at his old-age residence, the "Villa" in Tivoli. A star or constellation was named after Antinous. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Left: You can view this Athina Polias ("Athena of the city") statue in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens, GREECE. This is a Roman model of the original Athina Polias, which was created 12-meters high in the Parthenon in 432 BC, and was one of the "wonders of the ancient world." Athena has Nike in her right hand, and a sphinx and griffins in her headpiece. Greeks built the Parthenon atop the Acropolis in 447-438 BC as a place to worship goddess Athena and also to store tribute money moved from Delos Island. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Above right: Sculpture of Aphrodite, Eros, and Pan from 100 BC, found on Delos Island, now kept in in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens, GREECE. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Greek goddess Athena holds the head of god Zeus in the Louvre Museum, Paris, FRANCE. This museum also contains the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and Whistler's Mother. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Left: Roman Bath mosaic built 200 AD at Ancient Dion, located at the foot of Mount Olympus, GREECE. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Above: Ceiling of early Christian church, carved into volcanic tuff, in Ancient Cappadocia, TURKEY. The artwork dates from about 1000 AD. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Left: At Palenque (in the state of Chiapas, MEXICO), the Temple of the Inscriptions is the burial shrine of Maya leader Pacal the Great (615-683 AD). [Published in Wilderness Travel 1987 Catalog of Adventures.] You can descend step stairs inside to Pacal's tomb, which was opened in 1952 and became one of the greatest discoveries in Maya archaeology. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Below: Rattlesnakes and "El Castillo" pyramid hewn from limestone by the Maya civilization. Chichen Itza, Yucatan, MEXICO. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Above: Maya rain god Chac, and rattlesnake motif, on temple wall at Uxmal, MEXICO. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Below: Napoléon Bonaparte, Emperor of France 1804-1814, and later exiled to the Island of Elba. Louvre Museum, Paris, FRANCE. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Left: the masterfully carved Peidra del Lanzón ("Stone of Lanzón"), or "Lanzon de Chavin", at Chavín de Huántar, PERU. (Click the image to see more from the area.)
     As a long day trip from Huaraz, we rode a bus over a scenic 15,000-foot pass to visit the ancient ruins of Chavín de Huántar, located at 10,300 feet elevation at the bottom of Cordillera Blanca’s eastern slopes halfway between the Amazon forest and coastal plains, in the Department of Ancash in Peru. The most striking feature is the Lanzon de Chavin (pictured at left), 13-foot-high carved white granite stele at the meeting point of four underground tunnels in the Castillo (or castle). The Lanzon, the supreme deity of Chavin de Huantar, intertwines the head of the feline deity of Chavin de Huantar and the human body of the shaman of the pre-Chavin period. 3000 years ago, the innovative Chavin builders engineered the Castillo with underground ducts for natural air conditioning.
     The advanced Chavin culture of 1000 BC to 300 BC greatly influenced all later civilizations in Peru, including the famous Inca Empire of 1430-1572 AD, a millennia later. The farming city of Chavin became populous by controlling important trade routes which crossed from coast to interior and from north-to-south along the cordillera. Modern artist Pablo Picasso remarked, "Of all the ancient cultures that I admire, Chavín is the one that surprises me most. To tell the turth, it has been the inspiration for much of my work."
     In 1985, UNESCO listed Chavín de Huántar as a World Heritage Site.

PERU: Stuck into walls throughout Chavin de Huántar, these carved stone Cabezas Clavos ("nail-heads", with a peg extending behind the head) represented guardian deities, combining features of a bird with a jaguar or puma (or feline).
In Chavín cosmology, the feline represented a creator god with earthly power, and the falcon or eagle represented the Sun and celestial forces. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Tango street art in Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Left: "Inca alphabet" or "calendar" rug, commonly woven from wool of alpaca and sheep. You can buy many wonderful high-quality crafts in PERU.

(Click the image to see more from the area.)

Below: Colorful rugs for sale in Aguas Calientes, PERU.

Left: Finely knotted Turkish silk carpets. Silkworms eat mulberry leaves & spin a cocoon with a continuous strand 1 mile long. People twist about 35 strands into an extremely strong silk thread, which is twisted again into cords for rug making. 4 girls can take 1 ½ years to make a 10- by 18-foot silk carpet, which may sell for $11,000 US. TURKEY. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Carved palm trunk on remote Halape Beach, Hawaii. (Click the image to see more from the area.)

Cityscapes

Click any image above to see more from that area.