Generous land generous spirit

We left the park we were living at for the past 6 months with hugs from our friends and promises to keep in touch and advice from those who know about what to see on our way East. I have put away my paints and canvasses for a little while as I will earnestly work on my illustrations of my latest children's book. I sent out the manuscript and 2 copies of illust. to a publisher with hopes they they will at least read it.
I am charmed with Texas. The trees are starting to leaf out and wildflowers are strewn about. Even in a drought things are turning green. The views are expansive if not vast and in the Edwards Plateau hill country and east the scenery is so different from the Panhandle and the Gulf edge. The Texans are friendly and generous of spirit. We went to the 11th St. Cowboy Bar in Bandera Wed. night and it was such fun seeing all ages dancing in their clean, even ironed, jeans and boots and hats. Some women wore dresses with bling belts or bling tees and jeans. Texas women wear make up often and have nice hairdos. I can definitely say that women that work in retail look spectacular. They are warm and courteous, will be helpful if needed and stay back if you are 'just looking'. You do always say thank you when you exit a store esp if you haven't bought anything.
At my fav fabric store, Creations, they are beyond helpful, they are sincerely interested. I am making a jacket as a reward for losing weight,wait, I don't get to wear it til I'm done, but the clerk made sure I was choosing the right fabric and the right size and had me try on a sample they had in the store with out being a nudge. The day before we were leaving L. said to me 'what are going to do with all thee rocks, you don't even know where they came from". Oh yes I do sez I, I had written on them in ink just like an artifact museum. He had to agree to take them.
I shall be sorry to leave Texas but maybe I will bring some of that spirit with me.
I learned this week that my one woman show I have been working toward has been postponed as the building is being renovated. Well, it will give me time to paint more.

BIG

Here's a 'did you know'. El Paso,Texas is closer to the Pacific Ocean then it is to Houston! Not only is Texas big, everything about it seems to be big. The concept of ranch size is boggling. Larry and I recorded some music at Gazelle, a studio in Kerrville, TX, last week and Louie, at the studio, told me his grandfather or maybe great grandfather in the 1850s came out here and claimed land, I am sketchy here, with a Mr Shreiner. Shreiner said he'd take everything north of the Guadalupe River and Mr Real took everything south of it. That was something like 12 million acres for Mr. Real. In the ensuing years much of it got sold but they still retain 6-7000 acres that they ranch raising horses and prize lambs and have a hunting lodge. See Real Ranch.
My Massachusetts mentality says Wow! Actually, my national view has expanded since I have been on 'the road'. Seeing The Great Plains-farming takes on a whole new meaning. But-my farm in Massachusetts is lush and fragrant in the summer and it is intimate like a draperied living room. One can see the details like an early 19th century French painting. The trees, leaves, veins on leaves, caterpillars on leaves and the eyes on the caterpillar. Mid West farms are Cecil B. De Mille productions in Cinemascope. A painting with great washes of green or ochre depending on which end of the summer season, and a broad brush of ultramarine/cobalt blue sky with perhaps a pale Naples yellow ribbon of a road. Too expansive for small details.
Last night we had a campfire and sang songs and ate popcorn. It had gotten cold so I had a blanket around me. Looking over the treetops by the Guadalupe at the pale moon I was reminded of Rousseau's Carnival Evening. Very atmospheric.

Artist's Model

Artists can get all the pictures they want of a subject on the internet but there is nothing like the real thing. I've been working on a story about a cat and I have had a hard time finding the poses I need. For Valentines Day Larry took me on a surprise ride to the animal rescue here in Kerrville and I was invited to go in and choose my Valentine kitty. It is a very good place. Rooms of cats all having a good time, well cared for and clean. Plenty of levels to jump around on and a screened in porch for each room. I had a hard time choosing but finally settled on the one that climbed up on Larry's head. Tex is a small gray and white Domestic Shorthair male. A very affectionate boy probably 10 months old. He has settled in to our RV well, is box trained and learns fast. Larry built him a scratch post and bungee corded it to the leg of the table and he uses it instead of my oriental rug. I kid about artists model as I love cats but he will make a good model for my next book, a children's story, which I have ready to send to a publisher. Working on the all important cover letter now.

new granddaughter

Under the heading..a time for every purpose, I have suddenly (considering the span of my life)developed a passion for knitting. Given the opportunity in the past to learn from my sister in law who was an accomplished knitter I had declared it was too boring to sit an do a repetitive project like that. 30 years later I see the charm of it. But no sister in law to guide me. She passed away too soon in life. There are fab web sites now with instructive videos. Actually a sister in law on my husband's side encouraged me to tackle a complicated sweater pattern for my daughter last July and I finally finished it for Christmas. I feel good about the accomplishment but it doesn't look like the picture. My daughter is politely appreciative. So then, when I heard about a pending granddaughter I hunted and found a neat, looks complicated but isn't, baby sweater called a five hour baby sweater,qv. online. knitted all one piece looks like a gerrymandered map of Massachusetts. So now Little Granddaughter has arrived and the sweater will rest quietly for 6 months for her to grow in to it. Blessings upon thee small one.
If you have time on you hands while waiting in a Drs' office, an airport, on a plane, consider knitting...it is calming on the nerves, you have a sense of accomplishment and you actually don't get aggravated at delays. So beguiled by beautiful yarns made from a variety of materials and combinations like alpaca/acrylic and a paintbox of colors I am thinking of my next project and the victim on the receiving end. I even knit a dishcloth yesterday to test if it will perform better than store bought. Onward and upward.

Marketing UP IN SMOKE

Larry has been making email list and sending out emails promoting UP IN SMOKE. I think he is going to burn out on me.

Texas Art Colony

A conundrum exists with the artist who needs to be alone to think and create but needs the company of other artists as mentors and sounding boards. Personally I like solitude to think straight but I get very excited when I see an art colony and I saw one yesterday in the next town to where I am staying for the next three months. In Ingram Texas, a place has been restored, refurbished, what have you, for arts-sculptors, print-makers, watercolorists, oil painters to work, show their works, have workshops with visiting artists etc. The complex includes galleries, studios, an indoor and an outdoor live theatre and a place for gala events which used to be an old roller skating rink. It is called The Hill Country Arts Foundation. www.hcaf.com. It is right on the Guadalupe River. What a view! You don't have to go far for inspiration. Funny, right across the road is a replica of Stonehenge. I don't know if it is full size but it is BIG. Next to this art complex is the old route 27 before the bypass. It is a loop with the old stores and shops and houses when the town was built in the 1850s. Nothing like New England 1850s, I mean old Texan style. You could easily imagine a passel of Santa Gertrudis galloping down main street followed by yippin' cowboys or a lone rider moseying up to the rail to tie up his hoss. It's neat. They sell antiques there interspersed with art galleries now. If I lived here I would definitely get involved but there is an annual fee and I won't be here long enough to take full advantage of it.
I don't know if it is an actual fact but I've heard that if an old slum needs to be revitalized the city planners encourage artists to move in to set up studios and calm the area down. That is while it is still affordable. Then the people with two good incomes buy in to it and redo the old places and then they are out of reach of the artists. This has happened in Boston in the South End and is happening in Worcester, MA. AH, The fickle finger of Fate. Opinion?

Driving in our motor home from Minnesota to south central Texas, we stopped a few times along the way. I watched the landscape slowly go from tan colored dried corn and brown soy beans to still green corn and soy beans as we went south thru Iowa, Missouri and Kansas and the very flat country to the rolling midlands of Oklahoma and cattle grazing land into Texas and then quite hilly area south of Austin to Kerrville, the heart of the hill country. Grassland turned into earth-green live oaks and cedar, tall river grasses and rocky outcroppings. Pale buff sandstone telling of the ancient inland sea. Homes and buildings made of that pastel color blends softly into the landscape with an almost ethereal atmosphere. From my palette I would choose Naples and yellow ochre and raw sienna with titanium white.
One stop that was particularly interesting to me was the museum in Kansas City that houses the remains of the White Arabia, the steam boat paddle wheeler that went down in the Missouri River in the 1850s. The river changed course and the remains were covered up by silt. It was found in a farmers field. The story of the reclamation is worth a read and the items recovered and preserved deserves a look see. After a short film at the museum we were delighted to have a talk by one of the treasure hunters who added personal notes. The thing or things that amazed me was 1. the treasure was in beautiful shape due to it's newness at the time of burial and the pristine job of preservation which was tricky. Everything had been under water for 100 years and had to be kept wet while it was permeated with a preservative and then dried which took months. 2. I was curious to see what was needed by frontier people to eke out a living such as shovels, axes,carpentry equipment, brass pins,leather and rubber boots and also some small joys such as Wedgwood china, fabric, jewelry, pretty calico buttons and perfume! They also dug up over 2 million tiny beads for trading with the native Americans which had spilled out when their string holders rotted away into the mud and had to be individually picked out and washed off. No government money was involved in the reclamation or the museum.
Now we are settled here in Kerrville,TX next to the lovely Guadalupe River. A walking tour of the immediate area proves to be an interesting source of wildflowers and there is a large list of bird sightings in the office. Bird feeders abound with instructions to fill them daily. The park owners are birders. Looking forward to the next three months here.