Bluebonnets in art

If bluebonnets come just behind Blue Bell (ice cream, that is) on your list of things that make you happy, take a trip to Orange and see the “Bluebonnets and Beyond: Julian Onderdonk, American Impressionist” exhibit at the Stark Museum of Art.

The exhibit is in its final week and will offer special open hours on Sunday, May 24, from 1-5 p.m. (the last day of the exhibit).

Docents will lead tours of the exhibition and admission is free. The museum is at 712 Green Avenue in Orange. Regular hours are 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Group tours are available by appointment. Call (409) 886-2787 or visit http://www.starkmuseum.org/.

Bluebonnets, Part II

Tuesday, I shared a photo of a child being photographed in a field of bluebonnets in Fannett. If parents have a camera in the car, it's next to impossible to drive by without stopping to mark the moment.

Yesterday, I drove by the same field to find yet another camera in action - but it was pointed at a pair of tennis shoes perched on the rusty railroad tracks running through the field.

Tennis shoes and bluebonnets?

Yep. Commercial photographer Will France of In Focus Creative Imaging & Design also found the bluebonnets irresistible - but the baby he was photographing was a pair of Nike's for an upcoming ad. The combination of the intense blue of the flowers, the aged browns of the rusted tracks and the bright orange trim on the shoes undoubtedly will make a striking photo.

Grab a camera - the bluebonnets are here!

If you live in Texas, you are required to take at a least one picture a year of a child in a field of bluebonnets. I think it might even be a law.

The most famous fields of the Texas state flower are in the Hill Country, but as this picture shows, you don't have to take a long drive to snap a pic. This lovely patch covers no-longer-used railroad tracks along Texas 124 in Fannett. The owners of the Texas-style limestone house nearby once told me people stop there constantly, rolling down the windows to get a better look. Many make a special trip, camera in hand, like this threesome I passed one day recently, prompting me to take a picture of the young woman taking a picture of a man and child.

Who can blame them? It makes a lovely portrait.