STUDENTS, CLASSES FEATURED IN LOCAL NEWSPAPER

The New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung ran an nice feature today about the upcoming 45th Anniversary of the New Braunfels Art League. I'm proud to be a member of this organization, which has a wonderful gallery at street level and several studio spaces on the 2nd floor. That's where Casa de Linda Art Studio and Gallery is located. The article details the history of the organization and explains how it started. I'm also delighted to have been interviewed for the article and to have my studio and students featured in the print edition! The online version has only the article so I'm posting a photo of the section so you can see the students at work. NBAL will be celebrating the 45 Anniversary on Friday, May 7, with a reception and special exhibit of students who take classes from the various artists who teach at there (including my students!). That will also be the closing of the week-long Casa de Linda 6th Anniversary Open House and Studio Sale. We kick off on Saturday, May 1, during Wein & Saengerfest. The Open House continues daily through Friday, May 7. So if you are in the area, mark your calendar and plan to come to downtown New Braunfels!

WILDFLOWER WATCHES SELLING IN THE UK SPRING 2010

The newest of my licensed Linda Calvert Jacobson Wildflower Watches are being sold in the UK on bid.tv, price-drop.tv and speedauction.tv. This is the third year that my wildflower art is being featured on these wonderful watches. If you love my wildflowers on watches, then you'll love the many other products that I offer in my online store! Ceramic tile coasters, mugs, mousepads, Christmas ornaments, notecards and so much more! Every order comes with a 30 day money-back guarantee! Also check out my online gallery of original art!

WILDFLOWERS ARE BLOOMING IN TEXAS!

For those of us lucky enough to live in Texas, this is the time of year that we wait for and celebrate. The roadsides are filled with a tapestry of color as the wildflowers bloom in all their glory. It's called the "march of the wildflowers." The flowers start blooming first in the lower Rio Grande Valley and lower South Texas, where the weather tends to be warmer. As fewer cold fronts make it into Central Texas in late March and early April, the flowers start popping their colorful blooms in the Texas Hill Country region. And that, my friends, is what is happening right now. This past weekend my husband, David, and I were in Fredericksburg for the opening of my gallery show at Artisans at Rocky Hill. We found some time to drive a bit through the Hill Country and what a vision of beauty! Friends told me a few weeks back that they took the drive and were disappointed. If they go this week, I can assure them, and you, that you will be pleased. Willow City Loop is just one of the many color-filled drives that you can enjoy right now. And a visit to the area is never complete without a trip out to Enchanted Rock, a pink granite dome rising 425 feet above ground and covering 640 acres. Of course, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin is great for learning all about Texas Wildflowers. Plus, their annual Spring Plant Sale is this weekend, April 10-11.

Look at my wildflower art and you'll see why I am so inspired this time of year. The image I've posted today is titled "A Slice of Heaven." Can you see why I selected that title? It's one of several paintings on exhibit at Artisans at Rocky Hill. I take great joy in capturing a bit of this beauty on canvas so that people can enjoy a Texas Spring year around. I hope that where ever you are that there's a bit of Texas Spring in your heart right now!

WHAT'S NEW?

Just a quick post to point out some new additions to this blog. If you've visited before you can tell that I've worked on it...after all, it is Springtime in Texas! The Wildflowers are blooming, the sun is shining, the birds are singing!

FOLLOW THIS BLOG!
One feature (or widget, as it's called) that I've added is the "Follow This Blog" box. It's in the column on the right. Just scroll down a bit and you'll see it. I invite YOU to click on it so you'll know when I've posted something new here.

SUMMER ART CAMP LINK
At the top of the column to the right, you'll see a link to my Casa de Linda Classes page where you can read about the great Summer Art Camp 2010 I have scheduled. You can also download a brochure and registration forms from my website.

WILDFLOWER ART SLIDESHOW
Just for some eye candy, I've added a slideshow widget in the column to the right as well.

Remember, you can also sign up for my e-newsletter mailing list. It's free and be assured that I will never sell or knowingly share your address! Plus, you can unsubscribe at any time.

SUMMER ART CAMPS 2010 — NEW BRAUNFELS, TEXAS

The Casa de Linda Summer Art Camp 2010 schedule is ready! And I am so excited. This summer will feature new camps, new projects, and even three new instructors at Casa de Linda Art Studio in New Braunfels, Texas! More information below or you can go to my classes website and download a brochure.

NEW ART CAMPS FOR SUMMER 2010
Each year I try to offer something new while bringing back popular camps for years before and this year is no exception. So, what's new for 2010?
• For ages 5-9, we have 4 new camps plus we are repeating 4 of our most popular camps for past summers. The new camps are: "Monsters & Aliens," "Fun with Photos," "Little Princess," and "Let's Draw!" Returning camps are: "Prehistoric Times," "Creepy, Crawly Bugs," "Pets are our Pals!," and "Circus, Circus."
• For ages 8-13, we have 5 new camps and we are repeating 3 camps from previous years. New this summer are: "Basic Photography," "Advanced Photography," "Build it in 3-D," "Making Pictures 3-D," and "Advanced Drawing." Returning camps include: "Basic Drawing," "Girl Power!," and "Painting-Famous Artists."

ART CAMPS FOR TEENS AND ADULTS, TOO!
We are thrilled to include on the schedule this year 4 camps for the "big kids" (ages 14-adult). The offerings include a basic and advanced drawing and two painting camps, one on Texas landscapes and one on florals.

SUMMER ART CAMP INSTRUCTORS
I've decided to bring a few new people on board this year for the Summer Art Camp program. They are all accomplished artists and I am honored that they are sharing their expertise with our students this year. Here's a brief introduction:

MAREN PHILLIPS is an amazing artist well known for her portraits of dogs, hummingbirds, butterflies and people. Maren will be teaching basic and advanced drawing camps for ages 8-13 and for teens-adults. I've known Maren for almost 20 years and have been impressed with both her talent and her people skills. She has been teaching art at various venues for more than a decade, including three years with the Coppini Academy of Fine Arts in San Antonio as well as the North East Independent School District's Community Education program. You can read more about Maren and link to her various websites at www.marenartlines.com

PAM POHL is a extraordinary mixed media artist. Best known for her incredible press flower artworks, Pam started experimenting with acrylic abstracts and the use of gel mediums and clay to add texture to her paintings. Pam will be teaching camps in "Making Pictures 3_D" for ages 8-13 as well as a bug-themed and a dinosaur-themed camp for the younger children. While I had known Pam for sometime through our mutual membership in the New Braunfels Art League, I was able to get to know her better several years ago when I interviewed her for an article for the San Antonio Express-News (when I was still doing a lot of freelance writing). Pam enjoys talking with people, and especially children, about her art. Read more about Pam and see samples of her art on the New Braunfels Art League website.

DAVID JACOBSON may be a familiar name since he is my husband and business partner and you may have met him (or read his posts on this blog). If you live in the Canyon Lake, New Braunfels or Seguin area, you may know David for the talks he has given at libraries, garden clubs and even for the Master Gardeners on horticulture topics. But what you may not know about David is that he is an accomplished photographer. Hundreds of his photos of Canyon Lake, Canyon Gorge and scenes of the Texas Hill Country are hanging in homes and businesses throughout Comal County and beyond. He has been selected as the New Braunfels Art League Artist of the Month for April 2010 and a large selection of his photos will be on exhibit at the NBAL Gallery all month. David will be sharing his knowledge of the art of photography this summer as he teaches basic and advanced photography camps for ages 8-13. David is also the official photographer contracted to document the building of the new Tye Preston Memorial Library at Canyon Lake. You can see samples of David's work on the TPML website.

Of course, yours truly (Linda Calvert Jacobson) will be teaching again this summer! To read more about my life as an artist and see my online gallery, you can visit my website.

To read more about the Casa de Linda Summer Art Camp 2010 program, visit our website where you can download a brochure that includes a registration form. If you have questions, feel free to e-mail linda @ casadelinda(dot)com or call me at 830-624-5302.

Texas Wildflowers and St. Patrick's Day

I wrote this for my e-newsletter last week. I had so much positive feedback that I thought I'd post it to my blog for others to read. That's a photo of me taken on the farm where the Bluebonnets bloomed and, as you can see, so did the wild prickly poppies! Enjoy...

So you might be wondering: What do Texas Wildflowers, my art and St. Patrick's Day have in common? How could there be a connection?

To explain that, I need to tell you about my early years, growing up on a farm outside of Floresville, Texas, and a little about my dad.

In case you don't know, Floresville is located south of San Antonio and is believed to have been named for its early founders, the Flores family (who came here from the Canary Islands, but that's another story). But I always liked to think that it was a play on the Spanish term for flowers and was named for "town of flowers." Very appropriate, don't you think?

I am the youngest of four children and spent my childhood roaming the fields and creeks of our farm with my sister. I have many memories of coming across a bed of clover and looking for that elusive 4-leaf specimen. While Irish, that's not the real St. Patrick's Day connection that I'm writing about today.

My dad moved the family from Corpus Christi where he had a heavy equipment business and took up farming and ranching. He'd plan the crops, making use of the land, plowing under the weeds and grass as needed. There was, however, one corner of one field right at the front entrance of our farm that my dad did not plow under. And each Spring, Mother Nature provided the most glorious display of Texas Bluebonnets. Even so, I remember asking him one day why he did not plow that field. He told me that he liked the flowers.

Of course, this flew in the face of conventional farming wisdom of the time. It was the early 1960s and Texas was just emerging from a horrific drought from the previous decade. The neighboring farmers, no doubt, shook their heads in disbelief that my dad would prefer the wildflowers, which many considered to be nothing more than weeds, over a crop that would be harvested or, at least, baled into blocks of hay to feed the cattle.

About the time that the Bluebonnets would start to bloom in March was special in another way. My father was born on St. Patrick's Day. Not only did mid-March signal the start of Wildflower season, but it was also a time to celebrate my dad's birthday.

My father encouraged my art from a very early age and as I developed my skills in my teen years and into my early 20s, he became my biggest fan. He died a few days after his birthday almost 30 years ago. Not a St. Patrick's Day passes that I don't think of him. But more than that, I owe my love and appreciation for Wildflowers to this amazing man who was willing to let a field of weeds bloom, which created not only colorful childhood memories but influenced what would become my life's work decades later.

Thank you letting me share this little story with you today. Happy Wildflower Season and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Wildflower Days at the Wildflower Center!

The temperature is rising, the native grasses are greening and the wildflowers are growing and starting to share their joyful beauty. This can mean only one thing that spring is almost upon us in Central Texas and the Wildflower Center’s annual Artists and Artisans Festival 2010 is close at hand. The show is this coming weekend March 13 and 14. The Festival hours are Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday it opens at noon and goes to 5 p.m. This annual event brings together an amazing array of artists from throughout the region offering their latest artistic creations. I have shown here for several years and always enjoy being a part of this wonderful event that kicks off the Wildflower Days at the center.

Dalhart Windberg will be on hand Saturday afternoon to sign his latest spring print. Shou Ping will be there too from 1-3 p.m. to share insights into her incredible 3-D paper sculpture on display at the McDermott Learning Center. On Sunday Julia Webber will be signing the official 2010 Wildflower Days art print and T-shirt.

Bill Brockmeier, a dear friend and incredible photographer of panoramic photos, joins in the fun this year as one of the displaying artists. With over 20 artists in the Fest you are sure to find a treasured piece of art that will just have to come home with you or share as a gift!

I’ve been busy creating new wildflower paintings and I have a new line of colorful wildflower mugs that I feel are sure to please along with coasters, keepsake boxes, note cards and other great items, all in my signature wildflower style! Join us if you are in the area or check me out online at CasaDeLinda.com.

Wildflower Painting to Receive Award

Linda’s husband David filling in for her. Just a quick note that Linda is set to receive an award for one of her two entries in the “Art in Bloom” Show at the New Braunfels Art League Gallery tonight. The gallery is hosting a reception tonight from 5 P.M. to 9 P.M. and the award ceremony will begin at 6:30 P.M. Linda was notified a few days ago and does not know which of the two paintings won an award or what the award is yet. We do know that either Crimson Tapestry or Joy Filled Spring will be the winner of an award in the oil, acrylic and mix media category. We invite anyone that can attend tonight to join us at 239 W. San Antonio in beautiful downtown New Braunfels. The Art in Bloom show opened March 2nd and runs through April 6th so if you can’t make it tonight you have the rest of the month to see two of Linda’s newest artworks. I will update this post after we find out more about the award this evening. The events get more prolific as we move into spring. Next weekend we will be at the Wildflower Center in Austin. I will get you all the information on that show this weekend. It looks to be a great year for wildflowers indoors and out!

ART CLASSES IN NEW BRAUNFELS

I have three new classes starting up this coming week.

On Tuesday, Feb. 23, I'll be offering another round of my Basic Drawing for Adults. The 4-week course will be held on Tuesday nights, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Fee is $95, which includes supplies. I have 5 seats available. (Note: this is not on the Spring Schedule...but I had requests so added it!).

On Wednesday, Feb. 24, "Paint Along with Ms. Linda" #2 for ages 8-12 starts. This is a 4-week course that meets Wednesdays 4-6 p.m. Fee is $125, which includes all supplies to complete 2 paintings and snacks. The theme this time is "Tropical Islands." I have 2 seats open.

On Friday, Feb. 26, my "Experimental Painting" for Adults workshop begins. This class will meet from 1:30-3:30 p.m. for 4 Fridays. Fee is $135, again all supplies included. Only 3 seats open. The photos posted here are samples of what we'll be creating in this fun class.

E-mail me (linda @ casadelinda.com) or call me at 830-624-5302 if you'd like to join us!

NEW "WILDFLOWER DANCE" TILES AVAILABLE

I've just added two new ceramic tiles to my online store! They have the same basic design, "Wildflower Dance", as the gorgeous new stacking mugs that I added last month. Choose plain or with the words "Texas Wildflowers!" Check them out!

DRAWING, PAINTING CLASSES AND MORE

Just a quick update regarding art classes at my New Braunfels Casa de Linda Art Studio for February 2010:

SATURDAY MORNING ART for ages 6-9

The next 4-week course starts Feb. 13. The topic this time is "Collage and Mixed Media." We'll have a blast cutting, tearing, drawing, coloring, painting, splattering, gluing and so on. Fee is $125 and includes all supplies and snacks.

BASIC DRAWING FOR ADULTS

A NEW 4-week, Tuesday-night basic drawing class begins Feb. 23. This is being offered because of recent requests and is not on my Spring Schedule. Fee is $95 which includes supplies.

PAINT ALONG FOR AGES 8-12

The next Paint Along starts Feb. 24. These are 4-week courses that meet after school on Wednesday. This sessions topic is "Tropical Islands." Only a few seats are open. Fee is $125, all supplies included or you can opt to purchase a kit for $85 and get the course for $85.

EXPERIMENTAL PAINTING AND MIXED MEDIA WORKSHOP FOR ADULTS

Starts Feb. 26 and meets for 4 Fridays from 1:30-3:30 p.m. Come play with us and try out some new and exciting products and techniques. Fee is $135, all supplies included. Seating is limited so sign up today!

RADIO INTERVIEW WENT GREAT!

Just wanted to post a quick note that yesterday's interview went very well. Thanks to everyone who tuned in and if you didn't get to, don't fret...you can still listen to the broadcast! Just go to Inspired At Home BlogTalkRadio and scroll down to the past episodes. You'll see my name in the title and description. Click on "play" and enjoy!