Celebration of Summer 2, throughout August at Turquoise Tortoise, a Bryant Nagel gallery, continues a gallery-wide, summerlong celebration by welcoming new works. Guests can enjoy wine and appetizers at the gallery’s 1st Friday Gallery Tour reception on Aug. 3 from 5 to 8 p.m.

Favorite gallery artist Sharon Weiser, known for her brightly colored cactus compositions in oil on canvas, unveils an entirely new palette of deep blues with added hues of aquas, rose, deep reds and yellows. Like admiring a cactus garden on a bright moonlit night, these colorations add a surprising dimension to what viewers expect in a representation of the natural world.

“Wow, I’ve never seen white turquoise,” is a line spoken often by visitors to Turquoise Tortoise as they admire the gallery’s collection of Navajo jewelry pieces made from sterling silver with stones of rare white-hued turquoise that has a dramatic dark matrix. White turquoise has only recently come into fashion, and the real thing is challenging to acquire. Although white turquoise may be found in several mines in Arizona and Nevada, only a couple of Nevada mines seem to have tapped into veins of white turquoise of a high enough quality to be made into jewelry without requiring stabilization.

A wealth of paintings, sculpture, glass works, an extensive collection of jewelry and much more by American Indian artists and jewelers await visitors to this 47-year-old destination art gallery in the heart of the Sedona Gallery District.

Visit TurquoiseTortoiseGallery.com or call 282-2262 for more information. Turquoise Tortoise Gallery is at Hozho, 431 SR 179 in Sedona; hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.

 Humidity levels are up, and monsoon rains are bringing welcome cool air as summer carries on, which makes gallery hopping an increasingly attractive option in Sedona. At Lanning, a Bryant Nagel gallery that has anchored the heart of Sedona’s Gallery District for 32 years, a gallery-wide, summer-long celebration continues with its 1st Friday Gallery Tour reception Aug. 3 from 5 to 8 p.m.

Visitors are invited to join the gallery for wine and appetizers as they enjoy works that reflect cool waters such as the Surrealist scenes by oil painter Evgeni Gordiets or the abstracted landscapes of Patty Ripley.

With names such as “Water’s Way,” “Collective Sigh,” “Soft Surrender” and “Spawning Ground,” Ripley’s paintings of acrylic mixed media offer a touchstone of landscape or waterscape with enough abstraction to allow viewers to freely personalize their interpretation.

If giving in to the slow march of time in desert landscapes is more to an individual’s taste, the barren and abandoned desert scenes by Jonathan Howard remind everyone that days gone by sit directly next to each of their todays. Offered in a contemporary style, Howard’s textured mixed media paintings use a minimal palette to capture each scene’s sun-bleached palette.

A gallery filled with contemporary works by regional, national and international artists await visitors. Paintings, sculptures, studio glass, the jewelry of Michael Grant and more make a visit to Lanning a special experience. Summer Celebration 2 at Lanning, a Bryant Nagel gallery, runs throughout August. Contact 282-6865 or mail@lanninggallery.com for additional information, or lanninggallery.com for information and photos. Located at Hozho, 431 SR 179, the gallery is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.