Adventures in San Antonio

On our trip to San Antonio, I was on  a secret mission to find designs, colors, and architectural elements to inspire my patterns, doodling and painting.  San Antonio is a city that I would love to live in.  The place is saturated with Texas history, and the buildings and streets are so old and elegant. The hotel we stayed in was once a bank.  There were etchings, moldings and Arts and Crafts style fixtures everywhere, and in the basement was a vault!  The basement level of the hotel had an entrance to the Riverwalk which was absolutely beautiful. 
I brought my camera along and caught a few shots.

 I love the chains holding up this little bridge...

 A mosaic on a wall portraying the historical city buildings...

 I let my daughter take some pictures, too.  She loved this statue.
Then of course there was the Alamo....

 For some odd reason, I kept on finding lonely stars in the oddest places....

 I love old stone churches, this is one of the churches in downtown area...

 And old, abandoned buildings... something about the contrasting colors in this building is so attractive.

 Gridwork in the hotel entrance...

 Stone banners in hotel lobby (formerly Alamo National Bank 1929)

 A stained glass window in same hotel lobby

 Another star, in the ceiling of the hotel.  I love the designes on the left and right.

 The sky is so big here, the clouds are fascinating me lately.  Can't wait to pull out some pastels to paint them.  This is the view from our hotel window. 

Luckily, San Antonio is only 2 hours and a few minutes a way.  This weekend was mostly a work weekend and we only were able to see a small portion of what the city offers.

Texas skies

We took a drive out to the country today and visited our neighbor's horses which are stabled around 12 miles off post.  The clouds, sunset, and landscape were gorgeous.  It felt great to ride a horse as well.  

Loving the Big Sky!

Jennie's Art

During the past couple of years, I have had the pleasure of meeting and learning from Jennie Martin Tomlin.  She is the unofficial resident artist of Harrisburg, NC and her artwork is splattered all over the town. Especially government buildings like the town hall and library.
I have attended workshops and classes she has taught.  It is amazing how much I have learned from her, and have grown as an artist because of her influence.
She loves nature, flowers, and especially Trees!  She is a kindred spirit to me.

She was an Airforce wife as well,  so she has been able to give me a lot of advice in that area, as well.  She lived in Turkey for several years.  (I hope we are stationed overseas as a family, I think that would be a great experience.) Her website is :  http://www.jennietomlinartist.com/

The other day i bought a couple of prints of her artwork. 
I love her Koi fish painting....

 Her many paintings of trees are beautiful.  I love the fall foliage captured in this painting.

 The last two are cards with prints on them. I plan on saving up and buying the original of the purple iris.  It is simply magical.

Flowers and landscapes with alcohol inks

Right now, I am so in love with alcohol ink painting. I am plodding away with the medium, learning new ways to control the unpredictable beast.  And learning to letting it be free when I need, as well.   I am planning on getting prints made of a couple of my favorites, and matte them, and possible make some into card sets to sell on etsy.
Today is Gustav Klimt's 150th birthday.  I love his work, and the Art Nouveau movement as a whole, and his work has influenced my style.  And as far as style, I mean in everything....interior decorating, clothing style, and painting.  His colors, unusual usage of metals, and his flowery, whimsical, sometimes brutish style.  I love it.  I need to write soon about him and perhaps his painting Tree of Life.

Here are some recent pieces...

The Winedown in Harrisburg, NC

For some time now, I have been wanting to blog about the local businesses which sell and display my work.  Living in the area for 7 years (incredible for us nomads), we have become part of an incredible community.  And I am sad to be leaving our friends and neighbors in little over a month.

One of our neighbors, Steve B., opened up the Winedown last autumn.  It has become a favorite place for a lot of people around here who want to relax with a fine glass of wine.  In addition, he has some excellent musicians play on Friday and Saturday nights.  The wine tastings are so much fun, as well.

Steve is a carpenter by trade and actually built the wine racks and cabinets at the bar. The wine bar has a sleek sophisticated look with grays, blacks and red.

The silverish/gray faux finish on the walls behind the red couches was painted by my good friend and neighbor Kelly.  She has created her own business painting faux finishes and decorative painting.  She creates some fantastic finishes.  I like her stone and leather finishes the most.

 This is my wall of paintings.  Last week, my largest painting sold!  It was a Picasso imitation I made for the Art Guild's Fantastic Fakes competition last year.  I have to recreate it now for my husband, because he really liked it and wanted to hang it in his office.  Although, I would prefer my originals would sell more, I am happy with this sale.  Picasso is considered a Master for a reason.  And I am not arrogant enough to think my own compositions and paintings compare to his.  And it is fun to copy and add to make something new.