Intrigued by the drama and inspired by the sophistication of British aristocrats in "Downton Abbey," some fans are plotting to bring the series' style into their own homes, from gilded finishes to opulent upholstery to portrait paintings.

Most people stumble upon the Arizona Art Alliance Gallery while walking through the Pavilions shopping center off of the Loop 101 and Indian Bend Road in Scottsdale. It is a surprise to find a gallery in that location, between Hobby Lobby and Sports Authority. But visitors are pleasantly surprised by the variety of art on display and the gift items for sale.

"Ruby Sparks" slyly, smartly pokes holes in the romanticism of the Manic Pixie Dreamgirl, specifically. But it also toys with the larger notion of idealizing people you don't really know just because you've fallen for them and want all that warm, gooey stuff to be true.

FLAGSTAFF  — Uninspired by modern art, Kurt Wenner set out to learn how European masters made architecture soar and figures float in ceiling frescoes.

FLAGSTAFF  — Uninspired by modern art, Kurt Wenner set out to learn how European masters made architecture soar and figures float in ceiling frescoes.

I'm torn about it if you want to know the truth.

The “holiday season” may fall in December, but between graduations, weddings, Father’s Day and the like, you’re hardly off the hook for gift giving this time of year. Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered, with a variety of ideas that all involve clever covers for recycled cans, bottles or jars.

The “holiday season” may fall in December, but between graduations, weddings, Father’s Day and the like, you’re hardly off the hook for gift giving this time of year. Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered, with a variety of ideas that all involve clever covers for recycled cans, bottles or jars.

Art historian or connoisseur I am not. My art knowledge is higgledy-piggledy, occasionally garnered from “White Collar” sitcom character Neal Caffrey — a dashing art thief turned FBI advisor. Rubens, Rembrandt, Monet, and Van Gogh are names I appreciate but don’t know intimately. That changed last week when I experienced “Van Gogh Alive,” a traveling exhibition at the Arizona Science Center.

If you can look at a dented, chipped, dusty piece of furniture that’s been in someone’s garage for years and see potential and beauty, then Debbie Nelson is impressed.

Guest commentary by Jose de la Isla

Frida Kahlo. Diego Rivera. José Clemente Orozco. They’re Mexico’s most famous painters, known even to Americans with only a casual interest in art.

As a struggling, young and unknown artist in early 20th-century Santa Fe - or elsewhere in the American West - you'd have little hope of going to Paris to study the work of Europe's masters.

SEDONA — You needn't be a desert rat to fall instantly in love with the rugged, red-rock monoliths that define this enchanting city of artists in northern Arizona's Upper Sonoran Desert. Nor do you have to be a New Ager, although if you believe in the mystical power of vortexes -- there are 15 of these swirling centers of energy within 10 miles of downtown -- you'll fit right into this hot spot for every imaginable spiritual and metaphysical activity.

Not long ago, you might have foreseen the Republican pilgrimage to St. Paul, Minn., as having all the brio of the Bataan Death March. Surprise! For all the party's problems, Republicans find themselves with a fighting chance of holding onto the presidency after all. Impressive, that - as was John McCain's gutsy choice of the marvelous Sarah Palin. Maybe this grand old party still has life in it.

A few thousand miles away, hidden under lock and key, lies a painting that could change Joan Rodgers' life.

What does it take to be one of the Phoenix Fridas?

It's early on a Saturday morning as artist Joe Netherwood readies his easel for a day of painting. Wearing a tan cowboy hat and royal blue neckerchief, Netherwood is setting up shop at his "home away from home," a small makeshift studio inside the landmark big white tent alongside Scottsdale Road in north Scottsdale.

For a dramatic look at the effects of urbanization in the Valley, take a hike up Camelback Mountain.

Little did Arrigo Cipriani, who named a modest sparkling drink after a 15th-century painter in the 1930s, know that his concoction would have an international following nearly a century later. But that’s what happens when you make cocktail magic.

Looking back on the summer that defined his youth, the artist and narrator seems vaguely, inexplicably bitter. “There’s always some (blank-off) standing in judgment of what you do,” he gripes, as a younger version of himself scribbles landscapes in a sketchbook.

You can’t take it with you, sure. But feel free to re-create it wherever you end up. That’s the lesson from Anthony and Lindsay Cresta, a married couple that last month opened Windup Gallery in downtown Mesa — Main Street’s funkiest, coolest art gallery since, well, ever.

Painter Beth Ames Swartz can be destructive.

Before there was an Alamo — or an Agincourt, or an Iwo Jima — there was the Battle of Thermopylae, ancient Greece’s official entry in the “all-time great last stands” sweepstakes.