In Kinney County, Texas, you cannot go much further west without being in Coahuila, Mexico. The Kickapoo Caverns State Park is a good look at what the landscape is like where the Edwards Plateau gives up and creeps off into the Rio Grande. It’s a scrubby, unforgiving environment for man, beast and vehicles. It’s also the perfect place to paint provided you bring enough earth tones, a hat and a tough pair of pants.
The settlers found this region was no good for large scale cattle ranching, with too much cactus and not enough water. The great buffalo herds, which were the Walmart of the Native American plains tribes, ranged further north. The Spaniards and later the Mexicans passed through the area, usually as fast as they could. The rich Eagleford Shale formation just misses it. What money was made off the land came from Angora goats wool and bat guano. This part of the state is not what you would call “unspoiled”. But because of the desolation, you can find a lot of beauty.
I painted this little 8 x 10 landscape at the state park in the afternoon on a very cold day. The red shed was adjacent to a windmill, which I lacked the skill to paint convincingly on location. Doing plein air, you have to know your limits. I used my new pochade box, more portable than the French easel, and a 9 color pallet. A near-blind pair of armadillos nosed around my feet at one point, hunting for bugs. Kickapoo Caverns is their kind of place.
You can see the full painting here and other Texas paintings in my gallery.
You can see the full painting here and other Texas paintings in my gallery.
