Austin, The Last Stop

An oil sketch of cypress trees at Lake Bisteneau
© Theresa Grillo Laird

I'd never been on a month long painting road trip, so I left Florida with high expectations. Traveling from place to place while stopping to paint was even more fun than I anticipated. Despite some less than ideal weather, I painted in landscapes that I was seeing for the first time, seeing fresh with painter's eyes.
After staying at Lake Bisteneau in Louisiana and three different locations in Arkansas, my husband Pete and I turned west. The plan was to stop in Austin, and Perdenales State Park before continuing on to New Mexico.

Austin Wildflowers  ©Theresa Grillo Laird
16x20 oil

The trip had been full of surprises and the mid June heat in Texas was one of them. I had only seen Austin in the fall and was not prepared for heat that was somehow less bearable than in a Pensacola summer. Even with an air conditioned travel trailer, it was too hot to sleep at night. Austin became our last stop.
In Autumn, I'd been drawn to the fields of gold grass with dark green trees standing like sentinels over a molten sea. Now in late spring, these same fields were green and filled with every kind of wildflower imaginable. Beautiful!

In Austin my road trip ended but I can't wait for the next one!