East Austin Studio Tour 2010

Yep, it's that time of year again, our chance to wander through artists' homes and studios, gaze at their work, talk art over chips and hot cider (depending on the venue), and explore new blocks of East Austin. 150 studio stops, many more artists, many, many more pieces of art; all going on this and next weekend. Good stuff.

Red Bluff is one of my favorite blocks of Austin, with semi-secret views of Town Lake. Our first three stops were on this street: a recording studio that used to be an artist's studio with amazing natural light; The Barn, with several artists, including this cut wood sculpture; Dragonfly House has an amazing water view from the back garden.





ARTPOST is a collection of studios. My favorites were the big oxidized metal sculptures and a silver-leafed large metal tree sculpture (unfortunately I don't know the names of the artists). Also, we stopped in one of the studio spaces and I was happy to discover it belonged to Katy Horan, though she was not in at the time. I have one of her prints from Tiny Showcase and had no idea that she lived in Austin.

Fisterra Studio and Caroline Wright are two house/studio combos that are really beautiful, fun places to visit. Both display the work of the owner and a couple other artists, and I've really been drawn to Wright's work since I saw it on the tour a couple of years ago. And I love her studio with that giant easel on casters. These photos don't do justice to the enviable decor of either place, so add them your list if you're in Austin.

And on a non-art East side note, there's a new-to-me food trailer lot on E 6th a couple blocks from I-35 which has awesomely decorated/themed trailers and menus.

For more ideas, the Austinist recommendations. And the official E.A.S.T. site. More photos here.

Fall foliage

The flame sumacs and crepe myrtles at the park near my house are gorgeous shades of red right now.

I've had garden soil under my nails everyday this week, planting freesia bulbs, winter greens, and wildflowers; but I haven't had watercolor or charcoal on my hands for days. Guess the upside is that there's a limited window to plant seeds or admire the color change of leaves; not so with making art. I've got a garden related project I'll post soon as a "make-up" for all the sketching I haven't been doing this week...

Subtle Signs of Fall in Austin

These are from this morning's walk. October actually felt more autumnal, but now that the orange pumpkins are gone and the weather's warming up again, you've got to search a little for fall color. The flame leaf sumacs (fourth photo) are the only real burst of red so far, but I love the electric purple of the American beautyberry (second photo).

More November sketching

Working on a project involving mockingbirds, and I'm just getting to know them a little. Most of these guys are from photo reference. Something about that dark mask band around the eye and the downward turn of the beak makes them look very serious. Which is fine, since this piece should have more of an Audubon feel.

Still trying to sketch everyday (this set is from yesterday), but I think I'll just post here once a week, on Friday. And they'll also be here on flickr.

Playing with camera apps on the iphone

The grasses right now make really beautiful photos, especially when you add the instant atmosphere from apps like Hipstamatic (top photo) or CrossProcess (other photos). Just started using CrossProcess, so I'm still figuring out which color filters I want to use, but you can add that nice border like Hipstamatic photos have (at least the ones with Ina's 1969 film). Also, it seems to have a really strong contrast effect in sunlight. Just a nice option for adding a cool factor to on-the-go photos.

November Sketch Challenge...continues

This challenge to sketch and post daily for the month of November is trickier than I expected. Getting back to sketching everyday is good, although I missed Tuesday and Friday (fall gardening has taken over this week). But posting rough sketchbook pages rather than selecting just the 'pretty' ones when they happen is tough to do. However, this is prompting me to do more sketching just to have more material to choose from!

Wednesday

This morning. And I still owe a couple of make-up sketches.

November Sketch Challenge

It seems like November is the challenge month, whether it's drawing, novel-writing, or picture book ideas. I'm challenging myself to post a sketch a day (drawn that day) for one month. I'll start off big with a couple of kid sketches. Happy challenge month everyone!