Gritos!!! I had such a fun time recently in Marfa, Alpine, Fort Davis, Presidio, TX, and all points in between. I took a road trip!
There was a last-minute invite for me out west a couple of weekends ago, and Amanda kindly took over my Saturday post at Spruce so I could hit the road. (Thank you Amanda!!!) My old friend was participating in a cool Dallas-based pop-up shop that camped out for a week in Marfa, straddling the “El Cosmico Trans-Pecos Festival of Music and Love” and the Chinati Foundation open studios weekend. Lots of people-watching to be had. Great art as always. I skipped the social trappings of the town for a day and relished in the natural beauty that West Texas has to offer.
Me at Big Bend Ranch State Park in Presidio, TX. Full hiking attire!
Looking out toward Mexico over a very open Rio Grande.
I usually don’t get romantic about landscapes other than a beach, but this place had me at ‘Kokopelli’! Situated at the borders of Texas, Mexico, and New Mexico, the landscape was savagely beautiful; duality and dichotomy are personified here. Weather was hot by day and freezing by sundown. This land is at once colorful in light and abysmal in the dark of night, green though barren, full of wildlife, packed with alien fauna, dramatic peaks next to low valleys and canyons. It was so quiet, but the man made marks and apparatus were there to remind you of human occupancy. I remember the twang of a power line in wind: a funny elastic ‘boiiiiooiiing’ in otherwise silent space, and the rusty metal creaking of an odd windmill here and there. Weird, wild, wonderful desert happenings.
If I were to decorate my imaginary adobe abode in the West Texan desert mountains, here’s what would happen:
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Traditional looks mixed with brutally contemporary fabrics! Left to right is Robert Allen’s “Aztec Path,” “Metaphysical,” and “Puffy Path.”
More and more inspiration, from serene dawn…
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Through coarse dusk…
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List of fabrics…above in the top gallery:
1) “Operetta” / Beacon Hill
2) “Line Change” / Robert Allen
3) “Road Bump” / Robert Allen
4) “Soo Locks” / Beacon Hill
5) “Annina” / Beacon Hill
6) “Dolomite”/ Beacon Hill
7) “Sidewinder” / Robert Allen
8) “Soo Locks” alternate colorway / Beacon Hill
9) “Distant Dawn” / Robert Allen
10) “Marcel” / Beacon Hill
11) “Brushwork” / Robert Allen
12) “Asterism” / Robert Allen
The bottom gallery:
1) “Muskateer” / Beacon Hill
2) “Tyler Snake” / Beacon Hill
3) “Crazy Patch” / Robert Allen
4) “Aztec Path” / Robert Allen
5) “Whitewater” / Robert Allen
6) “Dakota Dunes” / Robert Allen
7) “Color Field” / Robert Allen
8) “Brushwork” alternate colorway / Robert Allen
9) “Rockery” / Robert Allen
Kirkby Designs has a cool collection of Mexican inspired fabrics called “Cheveyo.” Take a look at these upholstered beauties!
Fabrics are Kirkby’s “Kotori” and “Cheveyo”. Come to us for these materials!
West Texas’ Marfa satisfied all urges vintage, arty, harsh, peaceful, weathered, slick, contemporary, western, current, and understated. Textures found here are natural, decayed, fresh, graphic…just like the textile picks. If you haven’t been to this location on planet earth, make sure to venture there! It has a verified charm and confidence, and the panorama is decidedly antagonistic in the most attractive way.
Feel free to ask us about any and all of my inspiration picks. (Click links for Robert Allen, Beacon Hill, and Kirkby Design.) You can see them at our outpost here at Spruce in Austin!