The Southwest is in My Blood

I have visited the Southwest about ten times, give or take a couple. When I am there, the time goes by quickly. When I am away from there, the rocks, hills, and mesas call to me. This painting is an imaginary landscape with a partially imaginary rock wall, accented by a tower. The old ruins are made of rock.

sky canvas prints starry night art

Plein Air of Palo Duro Canyon, Near Amarillo Texas

This painting is acrylic on stretched canvas. Clicking on the picture will take you to the prints. We were staying in the Lighthouse cabin at Palo Duro Canyon in the Texas Panhandle, and I wanted to paint on location! The wind was strong, but I was determined. I did manage to paint most of the scene en plein air, adding touch-ups later.

It was a great experience. On the first night, we heard thunder, rain, and wind. I opened the door and peered out. There was no rain, no thunder, and no lightning, but much wind, bounding down the canyon and whipping around the rock cabin. I went back to sleep, to the sound of pounding--wind!

On the second day, I found a small snake in the living area of the cabin. It had been hiding under my shoe. We managed to see him safely out of the building.


palo duro art rock art desert paintings texas paintings texas prints rocks paintings texas art palo duro canyon art

Melrose Plantation, Louisiana

Step back into time...

Melrose Plantation Where:  Head South from Natchitoches on I-49; Exit 119  Price:  $10 for a tour of about an hour (as of June 2010) Open:  Daily, 12-4:00 PM, except for major holidays A Little About Melrose Plantation I love visiting Melrose Plantation; I've been there three times.  It consists of lovely, well-kept grounds, with several interesting buildings.  Of course, the star of the show is the majestic "big house."  This house actually was not the original main house.  That honor belongs to Yucca House, which stands in the back of the tour area.  I won't delve deeply into the historical aspects of the story of Marie Therese Coincoin, the original owner of Yucca House; check the link below for that.  A former slave, Ms. Coincoin became the mistress of her own plantation, and owned slaves. Later,  the plantation underwent a few changes of ownership.  The Henry family did much to make Melrose what it is today, adding onto the current main house, and bringing in additional buildings.   Mrs. Henry was hostess to several famous authors and artists.  One of the most famous artists associated with Melrose was not actually a guest.  Folk artist Clemintine Hunter was a cook and field hand.  She was inspired when she found some tubes of paint that an artist had discarded.   In an upper room of the hig house, you can see some of her original works.  Upstairs in African House, the walls are lined with murals that Clementine painted.  She created them while under the old oak tree that stands on the front lawn of Melrose.  The guides will tell you interesting stories of  her explanations of what she painted and why she painted certain things. There is a huge amount of information that I haven't written here.  Do see it for yourself.  It's easy to get lost in the enchantment of that place.  I wanted to just wander off alone and daydream about being an artist or a writer, invited by Mrs. Henry to stay at Melrose.  More *Melrose sits near the Cane River, which is not really a river, at least not now.  It's actually a horseshoe lake that was once a part of the Red River.  It was cut off when the Red changed course.  Real estate on the move! *The tour guides told us that one man came to Yucca House (when the Henry family was there) to stay for six weeks and ended up staying for over thirty years. *On my second tour, a descendant of Ms. Coincoin was one of our tour guides.  She gave a captivating portrayal of her famous ancestor.  *African House is a unique and interesting structure, said to be the only one of its age and type in North America. Melrose Plantation at CaneRiverHeritage.org

Galveston: A Whole Lot of FUN

After Christmas, we set out for a three-day trip to Galveston.  We had never been there, but we packed it in with things to do.  We took the ferry onto the island.  We could have gotten there by bridge, but I thought the ferry would be the best way to go, because it would make it seem more remote. The picture above is one of the ships we saw from the ferry.

I fell in love with the tall ship Elissa.  We were able to explore the top deck as well as the quarters below.  I think it was $8 per person.

Moody Aquarium was nice, but we almost missed the water tunnels.  Do not leave without seeing the tunnels, or you will feel ripped off. The tunnels are below:

There are two tunnels and a junction between, making a huge aquarium where sea creatures swam over us and beside us.  I could have sat there for an hour, just watching and being hypnotized.  If not for the tunnels, I would have felt that it was not worth the price.  We paid almost $40 for two tickets.  Still, there were other attractions.  You can see penguins being fed, then go below and watch them swim at and above eye level.  Oh, wait, did I say swim?  They flew under water, their petite wings flapping as if they were in the air. There were several other creatures as well.

This is the doomed Flagship Hotel.  I read in an online news article that the hotel is to be demolished to make way for an amusement park.  Ironically, there used to be an amusement park there, which was damaged by hurricanes and demolished to make way for the hotel.

 We toured the beautiful and majestic Bishop's Palace.  Unfortunately, photography is not allowed inside the house.  It is huge and truly magnificent.  You can read more about it at The Galveston Historical Foundation. 

Above is the Moody mansion.  We did not tour it because we wanted to explore the wharf.  However, we ended up going to Pelican Island, and what a marvelous discovery!  We toured the Cavalla, a submarine, and the Stewart, a Destroyer Escort. Below is a scene from inside the sub.  

I highly recommend this self-guided tour.  Going inside that submarine really made me realize how tight it is in there. We counted 55 beds, but the brochure said as many as 80 men were there at one time.  In the interest of space, some fortunate sailors got to bunk directly over a nice, toasty torpedo.  We spoke with a man who had been on a sub, and he said the guys would just pat the torpedo, say, "good night honey," and drift off to sleep.

 

To go onto the pier below, you either pay to fish or buy something from the little store.  From here, we got to watch the sun set over the water. We peeked into so many worlds while on this trip.  We glimpsed the underwater worlds of the sea creatures at Moody Aquarium; the Victorian culture of the Gresham's in the Palace; the tight, chancy world of  a sailor surrounded by ocean; and the fun of watching fishermen on a pier jutting out into the Gulf as we faced the ocean, pretending the nearby sand bar was nowhere in sight.

Flagstaff Arizona, on Vacation

A few days ago, we got a room for 3 nights in Flagstaff. I had pictured Arizona as being all desert, and with wide stretches of emptiness. WRONG. It does have desert areas, but Flagstaff is in a national forest. Arizona is a land of contrasts.
On that first night in Arizona, we went to Lowell observatory, where Pluto was discovered. They had a star viewing that night and I was able to view Venus and Saturn. This was my first time to see a huge telescope that required its own housing. It was surprising when the tires started turning as the dome rotated. Seeing Saturn caused me to say, “Wow!” I was actually seeing Saturn through a telescope, and not just in a magazine or on a website. We saw Venus through a smaller telescope, and it looked a lot like a round light bulb.
It was difficult to get back to the hotel that night. Flagstaff streets seemed confusing to us. We soon learned that the best thing to do is use I-40 as much as possible. We were eager to get back to the room and get some rest. The next day was going to be full of discovery.
southwest paintings southwest canvas prints southwest prints southwest framed prints southwest acrylic prints southwest metal prints southwest greeting cards southwest posters

Things to do in Natchitoches, Louisiana

Natchitoches, Louisiana is the oldest continuous settlement in the Louisiana Purchase. It's an interesting place for artists, romantics, history lovers, and anyone with an interest in times gone by. The founder of Natchitoches, Louis Juchereau de Saint Denis, has descendants who now must number in the thousands, because he had several children, who had several more, and on and on. I am one of those descendants, and if you have Louisiana ancestry, there is a chance that you too, are a descendant, which would make us distantly related.

The historic district of Natchitoches is a fun place to be, and there are lots of things to do. Pictures are posted below the following list of things to do:

1. Rent a paddle boat and paddle around Cave River Lake.

2. See an old house made of bouselage, consisting of deer hair, mud, and Spanish moss.

3. Take a trolley tour.

4. Ride a horse-drawn buggy.

5. See the gnarly oak tree that grows down the hill from Front Street, near the river(actually Cane River Lake, a horse shoe lake).

6. See the hugely wide oak tree on Second Street, one block from Front Street.

7. Eat Natchitoches Meat Pies.

8. Walk the brick streets and see the wrought iron--there is a lot of it! It reminds me of New Orleans.

9. If you're an artist or photographer, you can take pictures and sketch things like the wrought iron, the Cane River Lake and fountain, the lamp posts with flags and flowers hanging from the poles, the brick streets, the old churches, and more.

10. Stay in a bed and breakfast inn. There are several of them.

11. As you stroll Front Street and beyond, shop in the galleries, gift shops, clothing stores, and general store. And, shop in whatever-I'm-leaving-out here.

12. Eat in one or two of the historic district restaurants.

13. Go by the historic cemetery. It's shady there, and nice on warm days. I don't mean to seem strange, but I noticed some of the prettiest insects at this cemetery.