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My new purchase!

I just read a great article in the New York Times about the delicious food found in Marfa, Texas. There are also some great photos by my favorite local photographer, Allison V. Smith. Check it out! Here is my Food Shark pencil drawing that I did last year.

If you got some time on your hands next week check out the Marfa Film Festival. Good luck finding a place to stay....you might have to rough it. It looks really cool, I may have to add this event to the social calendar in the next couple of years. Let me know if anyone goes, I'd love to hear about it.

I went out and bought some new pens a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to get back to the basics and do some smaller drawings. My art time is limited balancing my family, job, and activities. I picked up some Sakura Pigma Microns on the recommendation of a fellow blogger who does the Daily Draw. These are really great pens and I can see why so many people enjoy using them. I had some back in college but I didn't really pay much attention to the brand or anything. Above is the first drawing that I did with the new pens....I think I'm gonna like these. The drawing is on a 4 x 6 note card.

I added a few touches to the water tower painting. I'm gonna look at it a while and make any adjustments I feel necessary in the coming days, and then call it done. Overall, I'm happy with it. I really like the red peeking through in the tower legs. I may play with the clouds some to give it a little more depth.....I'm definitely still trying to find my own style in these recent paintings, but it's hard for me to cut loose from my technical realistic ways.

Here's a peek at the current painting I've been working on for a week or so. Today, I went ahead and put a few layers on the water tower. I'm intentionally going to leave some of the red-orange background showing through in certain places to add a little extra interest. I may set this one aside for a while and see if any other ideas for this one come to me. I also may finish up the Del Mar sign that I shelved for a while. I guess I've been putting it off because all that is left is some small detail stuff. I'll show the progress on it once I get started again.

Some of Allison V. Smith's Marfa Photos

Too cool! Marfa's Thunderbird Hotel Neon

2-21-09 Daily Log:

5:45 am Wake up

6:00 am Cereal with sweet 2 year old daughter. Why is she up so early on a Saturday?

6:30 am Leave for school

6:50 am Arrive at school

7:10 am Load school bus with 30 students and 3 other art teachers and leave Frisco.

7:45 am Arrive at Plano Williams HS for Regional Art Competition

11:00 am Eat PB&J, granola bar, and 7up.

12:15 pm Leave competition - All 4 of my students receive top scores on artwork!

1:00 pm Arrive back at school

1:30 pm Go to Nike Outlet in Allen - Pick up some running shorts.... RHS 5K in 2 weeks!

2:15 pm Arrive at brother's house in Lakewood

2:45 pm Eat at Matt's Rancho Martinez Tex Mex - Tacos al carbon are off the hook as usual!

3:45 pm Arrive at Barry Whistler Gallery to see Allison V. Smith's Marfa Photos and meet AVS. Cool pics above! Nice to meet you AVS!

4:30 pm Back at bro's house to hang out for a while...

6:30 pm Back on the road to go back to art competition in Plano to pick up artwork

7:00 pm Listen to the end of the Tech vs. aTm game on radio......poor Raiders

7:55 pm Pick up artwork - I have 1 student qualify for state competition!! Outstanding!

8:40 pm Arrive back to the friendly confines of mi casa. Kiss the kids goodnight & visit with wife

9:30 pm Start writing this blog post

Down the street from the courthouse sits the Marfa Book Company. It seem a little out of place in a town like Marfa......well maybe not. The MBC is great bookstore with a wide range of Texana, new releases, and old classics. They specialize in art and architecture books. Two of my favorite subjects! The decor of the bookstore is very modern and hip. It is a great place to sit quietly and sip a cup of coffee while looking over a new book. In the back of the bookstore is a small art gallery. There are rotating art shows that are on display....check out their website for current shows and openings. On our visit, we found the staff to be very helpful and friendly. I picked up some books about Big Bend NP on my visit. The MBC is a great place to spend a couple of hours reading and relaxing.

When I used to teach Texas History to 7th graders a few years back, I would always discuss the Mystery Lights of Marfa during our Mountains and Basins unit. The kids loved it! Most had never heard of them and it really seemed to interest them. The whole mystery aspect is very appealing to 7th graders. The last time I went out to Marfa I made sure to make 2 trips out to the viewing area. It's so cool! There is a real nice viewing area set up on Highway 90 between Marfa and Alpine. You basically show up around sunset and look out at the horizon towards the south....and wait....and wait. Most people think that they see the lights....but they are car lights from highway 67. You can tell that they are car lights because they follow the same pattern....every time! Also, ranchers had reported seeing these lights before cars were invented. It's hilarious to see the tourist ooohing and aaahing over the car lights. If you are lucky enough....you will see the real thing. Which I think I did. I saw something out there around 11 PM. There were only a few of us there because it was late and it was cold!.....but we saw a flash of lights stretch out along the horizon....and we all kind of looked at each other in disbelief. This is an absolute must when you visit! It is really neat. Sometimes you see them and sometimes you don't. To read more about them....check out the link above.

The Chinati Foundation is a contemporary art museum located in Marfa, Texas conceived and founded by the late artist Donald Judd. It is known in the art world as the largest public museum for the permanent installation of sculpture in the world. The non-profit museum opened to the public in 1986. It was Judd’s goal at Chinati to bring art, architecture, and nature together in order to form a coherent whole. People come from all over the world to view the work here. Check out their website for all the current installations.