Kem and I did a short road trip recently down to San Antonio. It made for a nice change of pace. While it’s relatively close by, San Antonio always seems to deliver a little bit of feeling a world away too. We whiled away the time wandering through the King William District and ogling the restored old homes.

Right next door – or maybe it’s considered part of – the King William District was the Blue Star Arts complex. Most of the shops/galleries featured contemporary art. Some I might qualify as a little on the edgier side. The Bettie Ward exhibit of embroidery (entitled “Optimism and Horror”) at the Blue Star Contemporary Art center would certainly qualify.

Later we poked around the galleries and shops of La Villita. La Villita is just up the stairs and right off the River Walk so is a tad bit more touristy than the Blue Star complex. Some really nice stuff though. We found a little watercolor there at a placed called “The River Art Group” that we both liked by a woman named Joyce Sweet. Kem got it for me – what a nice gift!

The picture here is my own snapshot rendition of the painting done by Joyce Sweet. It’s of a place on the River Walk called Casa Rio. I over saturated the colors a bit on purpose to give it a similar sort of feel to the painting. You’ll just have to come visit to the see the actual painting.