Downtown Houston for a Day

Today I'll give you a little tour of Houston.  I went down in the morning and made several stops.  If I do chance to go down, I usually try to stay for the entire day.  First stop - Texas Art Supply to purchase supplies for my art classes.  Didn't take a pic of that - I was too busy doing my work!

Next stop - the Inversion Coffee House on Montrose.  Best iced tea in Texas.  Try to stop there every time I'm in the area.

The photograph in their window shows the house that stood on the spot before the coffee house.  Apparently it was to be destroyed, but previous to that, Art League Houston did a little 'remodeling.'

I remember when I first drove past the house - it looked like a ten foot bowling ball had been rolled through it, all the way through the back of the house!  I almost drove off the road!  It stood that way for some time until they finally demolished it and built the coffee house.

This is the inside.  It's pretty awesome, too.  It's got art all over the walls, and high ceilings, as you can see.  The rest of the building is where Art League Houston is established, and on the other side they have a gallery.  Always worth a stop.

You may think this a simple, unimportant picture.  Let me rephrase your thoughts - this is a gorgeous, rich piece of rooted grass upon which my favorite shoes are standing.  Yes, I am easily entertained.  It makes for a rich life.

Next stop - the Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH.)  They had a special exhibit of great post-Impressionist drawings which I really enjoyed.

Going between buildings, I always pass Damien Hurst's work.  No comment.

This is me getting ready to walk through the underground tunnel between the Audrey Jones Beck building and the Law building at the MFAH.  The light changes colors and permeates the tunnel with a bright glow.  It's an ethereal, color-saturated experience which I enjoy every time.

Each time I visit the MFAH, I try to go see my old friend, Louis Comfort Tiffany's window.  We own this one, and it's always on display, of course!

This photo is a closeup of a portion of one window.  Tiffany was THE master of stained glass - going as far as making his own glass to get exactly what he wanted.

This window is unusual as far as stained glass goes because he has it layered in places.  If you view it in person, you can see where he has put glass behind glass in spots so that the two panes will create yet another color.  It's really almost too pretty for words.

Here's one panel.  There are three panels in all, each measuring approximately 6'x10', if memory serves me well.  Inspiring.  I love it.

Here's a picture of a book that was in the MFAH store.  I didn't buy it because, well, because I didn't have any money!  But I DID take a pic of it so I can remember to find it cheap somewhere!  Yes, this is THE Steve Martin - actor extraordinaire!  Didn't know he wrote novels as well, did you?

It's about a young lady trying to make it in the New York art world scene.  Can't wait to read it.  Anybody out there read this one yet?

It was such a gorgeous day, that when I left the museum I decided to walk through the sculpture garden across the street, connected to the Glassell School of Art.

Here's Rodin's 'Walking Man' strolling through the garden.

Interesting....

Here we have Villon's powerful 'The Large Horse.'

This is another part of the garden - God's work is always more beautiful than man's, isn't it.

And then, of course, you find art all over the streets... this Stag beetle is about three feet tall.

After that I drove down Westheimer to go to Taxi Taxi, a chic used clothing store.  Wow - what a fun store - next time I go I'm taking my daughter and her girlfriend along!  As it turns out, there are five or six fun recycled clothing stores all in this block.

This is a portion of a mosaic on one of the buildings on Montrose.

Here's another section of that same mural, obviously celebrating Houston.



And so concludes my Houston tour!  My last stop was back at the Inversion Coffee House for a mango pineapple smoothie to take me home.  Not only do they have the best iced tea in Houston, they also have the best smoothies!

By this time, it was about 3:30p.  I had just enough time to GET OUTTA THERE before the Houston traffic got bad.  Nice, nice day.  I love Christmas break!