East Austin Studio tour 2014

Another busy week-end with East Austin Art Studio tour. We went out both days, but we did take it a little bit easy on ourselves. Me especially, since I have been having hip and knee issues and they tend to get worse with cold damp weather.  It was cold and rainy both days, and windy.  We chose locations where there were multiple artists to cut down on being out in the weather so much. Several places we went had big fire bowls or pits burning, so we ended up smelling like woodsmoke, but we didn't mind. Every place we went was very crowded so I guess the weather didn't keep people away. The tour has gotten so big they now have it two week-ends. And guess what, the forecast says there will be rain again this week-end. We need all the rain we can get, so no one complains about it.  I still feel bad for some of the artists who are outside in a tent, trying to keep their wares dry or from blowing away.

Pump Project building.  At least 30 artists here, I lost count.

 

Art on fence at Pump Project

 

Quilt in one of the hallways.  Not pieced, all one fabric, quilted.  I love the colors and the birds. It is not cool to take photos of peoples artwork, but the quilter told me this is just the way the fabric came, she just quilted it.

 

Keeping with my love of gray and of texture, I shot this photo out one of the upstairs windows, of the wet and worn tarpaper roof.

In another neighborhood, I love the colors they used on this house, and the hanging metal on the porch.

All my week-ends crashing together

Hubby says when we get our lives sorted out, we will live 6 months in Idaho and 6 months in Texas, and he wants to do so forever. Hands down the 6 in Texas will start with October...  That is when the serious festivals begin. The ones we like anyhow.  There are festivals of some sort here year round, but the ones we go to all happen in October and November.  The main reason for that is that it is starting to cool off. 

But this year, October has plain flat worn me out.  Every week-end we have had something to do.  Sometimes I just want to stay home.  Hubby keeps saying, but we have always done this or that or whatever it may be.  It's tradition.  Well here are some of our traditions.  October 11th we went to a mask making workshop at the Mexic-Arte museum for the masks and large bat float.

The following week-end was the actual parade.

Dia de los Muertos, Day of the Dead

Parade and Festival October 18th

Next up, the 35th Anniversary celebration of a store we have been shopping at for about 20 years. The owner Marcia leads trips to Mexico and also imports wonderful arts and crafts from there.

We usually buy at least one important piece from her each year on our Anniversary.  I admired a couple of things when I was there, and later saw Hubby sneak by with a package and take it to the car. It is in the living room now, and I haven't peeked once. Our anniversary is on Monday.

 

 

The lovely lady in the center photo and with the mariachis is Marcia Lucas. You can read her story and see some of the kind of folk art she carries in the store.  The blurry photo of the lady in the pink skirt and cowboy boots, is Lucinda Hutson, local cookbook author. She was moving about so fast I never did get a good photo of her.  She has the coolest clothes, jewelry and cowboy boots.

 

Same week-end, (25th and 26th) we also attended the Texas Book Festival, at the capitol grounds. I was too busy shopping to take many photos.

Hubby with capitol in background

Looking down one row of tents with books, authors, music, merchandise, food.

 

 

Next up...beautiful cool fall day for the Grand Prix of the Americas. If you've been reading for awhile you've seen my race car photos, so I'll keep these to a minimum.  Just some highlights. Like the Navy skydivers, and when my favored to win driver led the race for 24 laps and then his team mate, Hubbys favored to win overtook him on lap 25 and stayed in 1st place to the end. The two guys in the photo are Alberto and Hernando, they are from Mexico City, but live in Austin now.  I've decided doing the collages on Picasa is the best way to go when I have several photos instead of stringing them out.  

 

 

Almost forgot to mention, after the races Kid Rock was playing in the 360 Ampitheatre stage. We walked over and listened for awhile.  There were a few other concerts going on in the area, so there were a lot of competing sounds.