Skip to main content

My neighbor, the artist

Living next to a professional artist has been a pleasure since we built our house here in Austin ten years ago. Gladys is not only extremely talented and her artwork is interesting and the process is unlike anything I would have imagined--she creates miniature settings in real life in her living room art studio, then begins adding layer upon layer of acrylic paint until she is satisfied--she is also the best neighbor. Last month, I went to a downtown Austin art gallery to see her latest creations and snapped a few shots, although these amateur photos don't come close to showing how wonderful the art actually is.







Here's Gladys with her oldest daughter, Celeste, who just graduated from the University of Texas.
Jack, her husband, and Marielle, her youngest daughter, also attended the opening of her work on display. She also paints gorgeous family portraits, and I've always wanted to commission her for one of these, but haven't done so yet. Some day...
Congratulations, Gladys! I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing your amazing artwork and more importantly, love having your family as our neighbors. Thank you for your neighborly kindness and friendship!

Comments

Julie V. said…
I remember meeting Gladys the last time I visited and loved walking through her studio. She is so talented.
Gladys Poorte said…
Thanks, Kelly for all the kind words!
Gladys

Popular posts from this blog

It's my birthday!

Here's a cute little picture of me in kindergarten, 1968. All my life, I've never forgotten this shot below in first grade (1969) when the photog asked me to say "peaches" and he snapped the shot at the "ch" sound. If you're trying to get a kid to smile, don't tell them to say peaches. It's scarred me for life. Mom, what the heck happened to my hair? Did I fix it myself? After all, I was in second grade and very capable. My grandma crocheted that groovy vest for me, but who is responsible for the hack job on my hair? Hello, 1970! Who knows where my third grade picture is. We moved so often, changing schools, that I might have missed picture day. Next is my fourth grade mug shot. I must have sworn off bangs by then. Thank goodness for those plastic barrettes to deal with the in-between length. Notice how every year I wore green? Yeah, it's been my favorite color for as long as I can remember. I don't have an actual school pic of me in f...

The BIG REVEAL!

We LOVE our new pool! There are a couple of problems that need to be fixed, so we're crossing our fingers that they get it done right, and soon, considering we have given them the final check for the balance of the pool, and we don't have any leverage. Three of the waterfalls work. This is the main one and I like the natural look. Below, here's the deep end waterfall, and it's flows nicely. The water sheer like this one, that flows into the shallow beach area, is the fall that is not working. It's frustrating, but hopefully they'll fix it soon. The fountain in the spa is blocked too. Here's the small rock waterfall, which works just great. It took about 18 hours to fill the pool and we practically watched it gallon by gallon. I stayed up all night long, making sure it didn't overflow. We swim in it every day. Last night we went on a midnight swim and it was beautiful. The water temperature is perfect. I'm extremely thankful that we have our new...

Our new daughter!

This picture was taken at church a few days ago while Kelly was on his way to the US for work this week. We have some wonderful news to share.  We are adopting 7-year-old Yeh Min Yu, who has been in our home off and on the last couple of months.  There's a lot that goes into making this official, dealing with US Homeland Security to arrange for her immigration visa, Taiwan courts and Chinese documents, getting a home study done by a licensed, qualified person, applying for a passport.  You have no idea.  I'll be glad when it's all done, but I couldn't wait to share this bit of joy with everyone.  We will name her Hannah to go on her new US birth certificate.  She's excited and nervous to go to America with us.  She can say more than 100 words in English so far.  Some of her favorite things to say are "small dog, butterfly, apple, pig."  She says it more like pig-uh.  We love her and feel this is one of the reasons we came to Taiwan....