All the Wine

One of my favorite moments to experience is getting away from it all, deep in the woods and losing myself in a painting. I just returned from Napa, CA today.  I had been there since Tuesday, where I rented a large house with 7 other folks. We spent most of the time enjoying great food and wine, but I broke away from the group on Thursday. I went up to Lake Berryessa and enjoyed a 6 mile round trip hike and did a painting of the lake. Not a soul was within miles, just me, the critters and the new brushes and paints I bought before the trip. I then went back down into the valley and painted a vineyard off the Silverado Trail. There are so many incredible views in Napa it can be hard to choose what to paint sometimes. I really liked how the perspective lines are established by the vineyards, and just about every scene around has the blue hills in the backgrounds that I love so much. Feeling full of accomplishment after my hike and producing 2 paintings, I joined back up with the group for a wonderful evening of Italian food and yes, more wine.  

Take It To the Limit

Ever been immersed by over 100 artists over a three day period? That was what I was doing this weekend attending the 2007 Austin City Limits music festival. This isn’t my usual post, as I didn’t do any artwork over the period. However, the experience was very motivating as ACL is an amazing venue to see live music done very artistically.

I’m not going to recap ACL, you can check that out on many other websites. However, I do want to point out that Regina Spektor was the highlight of the show for me. I have liked her music for a while, but it wasn’t her music that made her concert so special. First, I was surprised at how many people flocked when she was coming on. It seemed to be the most crowded of the acts I attended, and people just kept spilling in. While tough to move around, it created a buzz of energy and anticipation. Then Regina came on stage and started singing. She sounded great, her voice is fantastic. When she finished her first song, she looked up and smiled in amazement. You could see pure delight in her face and she appeared blown away by the attendance and how responsive the crowd was to her music. If you haven’t seen her, she has a very sweet and pleasant look. “I can’t believe I got to be here today” she said, and went over to her piano. Before she started playing her piano she said “My job is AWESOME.” She was flooded with joy and it came out in her music. She improvised, was playful, and sang her heart out. To see someone that into what they do, and performing with sheer delight was very inspiring. 

Sweet Home Alabama

Twenty-two hundred miles across the Deep South linked friends, family, football, and food for me over the past week. I started from Dallas to Tuscaloosa, AL then Gadsden, AL, onto Atlanta, up to Nashville and back to the Big D. The scenery from Atlanta to Nashville is wonderful and made for a fantastic road trip. I only had time to paint twice while in Alabama. The first is near Gadsden near Noccalula Falls, a few hours before the Thacker Family Reunion. The reunion features over 100 of us and some wonderful home cookin’. The second piece is from the small mouth of the Little River Canyon, not too far from where I grew up.  The weather was good and even though Alabama has been in a terrible drought this year, the greenery was still quite lush, especially compared to most of the scenes I’m used to in Texas. Lookout Mountain has a hazy atmospheric look most of the time, being a foothill of the chain that includes the Smoky Mountains.