Art In Uncommon Places, San Angelo, Texas - Sunday, April 17, 2020

On the road again...heading to San Angelo, Texas, today. We left San Antonio at 8:45 am and arrived at San Angelo State Park at 12:45 pm. The camp office was closed for lunch. A park ranger was sitting by the gate and he explained we could come back after 1:30 pm.

Our site at San Angelo State Park.

Here's a partial view of the lake at
San Angelo State Park.

The view from our campsite.

More RVs in our loop.

Sunnie checking out our new
location (and my lunch).

So, we set up camp, had our lunch, took a short nap, and registered at 3 pm. Then we relaxed and read. Bob took a short bike ride around the park roads, but it was 91 degrees. HOT, but dry. While Bob was out riding his bike, I read and napped.

At 7 pm, it was time to explore. Downtown San Angelo is very close to the state park. As a preview to tomorrow's Volksmarch, we tooled around downtown a bit.  Great photo opportunities awaited.

While we were driving around, we passed a beautiful mural of a peacock. After passing the library, the county courthouse, and City Hall, I told Bob I wanted to go back for a picture of the peacock. Well, once again, I was delighted by a surprise find: Art in Uncommon Places (AIUP). This is a pictorial of my 20-minute walk in Paintbrush Alley.

The peacock mural, one building 
away from Paintbrush Alley.

Two bird benches, if you look closely
you will see bird beaks and bird wings.

One entrance into Paintbrush Alley.

Clever cut-out silhouette of a horse.

If Bob had walked through here with me,
I would have had him take my photo
with the butterfly wings.

You may notice a theme in many of these murals. The photo below tells you what is being honored by most of these pieces of art.

Paintbrush Alley is themed 
after the 1956 movie "Giant."

This is so cool!

A "postcard" from Paintbrush Alley.

Here's a wall of four murals.

The state flag of Texas.

I was enjoying looking at all of these works of art. A reminder sign was posted in a small alley off the main alley reminding people that they were not responsible for any accidents that happen in the alley. You definitely have to watch your footing. There is broken concrete and there are sawed-off pieces of pipe that can trip you up if you're not careful!

Side view of an oil derrick
painted on a boat.

The oil derrick painting 
from the front.

"The Yellow Rose of Texas," 
American folk song art.

This whole building is covered in art. 

All works of art have QR codes
so you can learn about them.

It wouldn't be Texas without
cowboy boots...

...and horses.

Such a cool piece of art. There is a black
cat that looks just like this that lives in
the alley. It is pretty wild.

The other side of Paintbrush Alley.

An interpretation of "The Vetruvian
Man," by Leonardo da Vinci.

An interpretation of "Pamela's
World," by Jonathan 
Shakespeare Thompson. 

An interpretation of "Dogs 
Playing Poker," by Cassius 
Marcellus Coolidge.

An interpretation of "The Water-
Lily Pond," by Claude Monet.

An interpretation of "Girl with a
Pearl Earring," by Johannes
Vermeer.

An interpretation of "The Son of
Man," by René Magritte.

An interpretation of "The Starry
Night," by Vincent van Gogh.

Cool architecture on an old building
in downtown San Angelo, Texas.

A brightly lit window display at night
in San Angelo, Texas.

The old Texas theater in 
San Angelo, Texas.

After our exploratory trip through downtown San Angelo, we were ready for dinner. It was 8:30 pm on Easter and we weren't sure any restaurants would be open. But, lo and behold, an Olive Garden was open and we love Olive Garden. Both of us had unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks for dinner. Yummy!

Driving back to the campground, we saw the moon low on the horizon. It looked huge and orange like a harvest moon. My cell phone did not capture the exact image, but the photo looks pretty spooky anyway.

"I see a bad moon arisin'."

And that was our travel day to San Angelo. Tomorrow, we plan to do one of the two San Angelo Volksmarches. Wednesday morning, we will do the second San Angelo Volksmarch.

That's a wrap. Good night.