Longhorn No. 5 - and Claude, I Feel Your Pain

 

Longhorn No. 5

Oil on canvas, 15x60

Please click here to email me for price and availability

Today (Friday) is the set-up day for the Winnsboro Fine Arts Market, here in Winnsboro, Texas. It looks like a cute little town, with some interesting shops and restaurants, some pretty houses and a surprising number of banks. 

I'm in eastern Texas, and it doesn't really look like my idea of Texas at all. All along my route, I saw lots of trees, lots of water, some hills, and lots of cows and horses. It was a lovely drive from Houston to Winnsboro. 

These horses were as interested in me as I was in them, I think! 

***

THE HOUSTON MUSEUM of Fine Arts is showing an exhibit of some of Claude Monet's paintings of the Seine, and I was thrilled to be able to see it. 

It was not a big exhibit, but it was really wonderful. Monet painted the Seine again and again and again, in all sorts of weather and all sorts of light. I've seen many of these paintings before, but not since I began painting, so it was extra special to see them, and to understand, a little at least, what he was doing, what colors he was using, how he was making the paintings work. 

I've read biographical stuff about Monet, but got a book at the museum and I'm reading about his life again. Before his success, he struggled mightily, and was rejected again and again by the people who juried the major shows of Monet's day. That sure made me feel better! 

Above, one of the paintings from the exhibit. Below, me in a tunnel under the museum. I met a lovely woman there who looked at me and asked if I was a painter. We chatted for a while, and she told me to use the tunnel to get to the other building, and she was there, taking photos as I walked through this tunnel / light painting. Isn't it fun? It changes color every few moments. Very cool! 

***

And here's me in a hat, at a big cowboy boot store!

***

AND HERE IS... well, what the HECK is this? It is a little building with, what???? Monster arms coming out of each window? I drove by three time and STILL couldn't quite figure it out. But what a riot!  

 

***

Dog of the Day

Met him and his brother at the Houston Fine Arts Festival. They were both rescues, and this one had scrapped with another dog at the shelter and lost part of his ear. And then, that gnawed ear began to stick up! This was one of the happiest, looniest dogs I've met. Always ready for action!