One of the most intriguing houses in Texas is, until recently, one of the most endangered. The last of Galveston’s privately owned Gilded Age homes, the League-Kempner Mansion is in danger of loss without its determined new savior. At 1710 Broadway, the home was built by Galveston aristocracy John Charles League and Nellie Ball in 1893. It represents the last great house of the Broadway Castle District designed by Nicholas Clayton, architect of the Bishop’s Palace. Following League’s death in 1916, matriarch of the Kempner family Eliza Seinsheimer Kempner acquired the home. Eliza employed Houston architect to the oil barons Birdsall Briscoe to make additions in 1920. Upon Eliza’s death in 1947 the house passed to her son Isaac Kempner, ...
So you were curious about my sketchbook? And you’re thinking about starting your own? Here is my encouragement for all skill levels, punctuated by drawings from the first six months of my 2022 sketchbook and a few quotes by some of our favorite artists. (Disclaimer: Some artistic representations herewith represent the human anatomy.) Art history began on cave walls when early humans felt an innate urge to draw. No one knows exactly why prehistoric humans made art, but it was almost certainly as spiritual as it was a form of communication–but it could have been for fun too. For decades I have carried a sketchpad and pencils in my backpack, going wherever I do. And every year I start a ...
How can a building exist in four different countries without ever being moved? Simple: the structure was part of Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the USA, the Confederate States of America, and back to the USA again. Hidden down a scenic road in Grimes County, about 20 miles northeast of Washington-on-the-Brazos, the Fanthorp Inn captured my imagination the first time I set eyes upon it. So I found the occasion to step back in time for a TroysArt Travelogue. Joining me for the excursion into Texas history is my gal pal Stacey Abbott, the pert blonde owner of Spa 1107 in Houston and Zane Anderson who owns a number of historic properties in Navasota and College Station. The site was ...
Tennessee Williams infamously said, “America has only three cities: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans. Everywhere else is Cleveland.” I adore the quote, and I have used it before—after all, I do love New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans! But I haven’t been everywhere. So why not a trip to Cleveland? And one must appreciate the randomness of a trip to Cleveland for my first flight since we were all locked down for Coronavirus. I knew nothing about Cleveland. Who really does? The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the theme song for the Drew Carey Show comes to mind. My late Aunt Barbara Belle Broussard, who lived a portion of her life in Columbus, once told ...
When asked about favorite foods, people usually answer in generalities like “pizza” or “pasta”. The response is often broader, encompassing whole countries or cultures—”I like Chinese food” or “I like Mexican”. I go out to eat often, most days in a week, and am asked with regularity to recommend restaurants. But lately, especially since the closing of so many restaurants due to Covid, I have considered my favorite dishes—the foods I crave. So to answer the question of what I like, instead of answering “Vietnamese” or even with the name of a specific restaurant, I am naming dishes. And this collection is not just good food, it is a sampling of Houston’s best food—dishes that will not only amaze but ...
Now is the season to get outside. The weather is perfect for outdoor activities—outdoor painting being one of them. And there are artists with the ability to paint outside with achingly beautiful results (unfortunately I am not one of them but it doesn’t stop me from trying). En plein air is the act of painting outdoors, enabling an artist to capture the changing details of light and weather. With the invention of tube paint in 1841, artists were able to carry their supplies. A pochade box is used to make painting outdoors more convenient by organizing equipment as if a mobile studio. John Constable, one of the early plein air artists, was known to make pochades in the size of ...
2020 was a disaster—the weirdest year of my life. And making paintings of toilet paper was the lion’s share of my body of work. Canvases depicting white paper rolls found homes faster than any other series in my art career. But, yes, I made other pictures besides toilet paper in 2020! This post is a humble overview of recent works. But be warned, more sentences here begin with “I” than in an Obama speech. Pet portraits have been a staple for me for over a decade. And though I did not do too many this year, I did some good ones. (Link to TroysArt: A few recent pet portraits). I work from photos and my pet portraits are by commission. ...
Toilet paper is cheap and mundane—an everyday product to perform a menial and unpleasant task. But this has been a bizarre year and I find that nothing could be more emblematic of 2020, the coronavirus era, than a roll of toilet paper. How many conversations were had over the quandary of toilet paper hoarding? Has anyone made sense of it yet? I have not. I was shocked when I saw that the entire toilet paper aisle at my local grocer with shelves wiped clean, signs posted to limit the number of packs per customer, even if available. The media reported that almost every grocery store in the USA, Canada, and the UK were sold out, with some Australian stores hiring ...
Bart Simpson once said, “When the Big Easy calls, you gotta accept the charges.” And that has pretty much been my motto for years. So in October, while having dinner with a handsome fellow, I discovered that he had never been to New Orleans—and that sounded like a call to me! That meal was our first time to get together but we had a great rapport and a lot of fun. So within a week we were set for hitting the hyped & hidden highlights, haunts, & hangouts of New Orleans. Not that I ever need a reason to hit the Crescent City. But my BFF gal-pal, former Lake Charles glamazon, Terry, aka TD, now lives in New Orleans. So ...
A few recent Pet Portraits by Troy Broussard: The dog has been man’s best friend for thousands of years and, in many cases, the dog has perfected the relationship better than man has. I grew up with dogs—all types of animals really. The Broussards always had dogs and cats, but at certain points in my childhood we also had Guinea pigs, mice, hamsters, rabbits, hermit crabs, chickens, ducks, geese, guineafowl, parakeets, tropical fish, goldfish, turtles, a crawfish, a lamb, a horse, pigs, a raccoon, and even an alligator. We had just about everything but a monkey. So between my history with animals and my artistic talents, it seems a natural fit to paint pet portraits, right? I cannot recall how ...
I met Ellen Bland in 1989. Ed Perrault and I attended an art event at Meredith Long Gallery and we had barely gotten a glass of wine when approached by Betty Bland. She reminded Ed who she was and introduced her daughter, Ellen. And as Betty engaged Ed in conversation, Ellen just looked at me and asked, “You a coonass?” I said yes. And then she asked, “You like pralines?” I said yes. A week later Ellen dropped by with pralines and a friendship was born. It was the holiday season, because Betty’s praline business was full throttle and Ellen was a fully deputized praline elf. And I never had pralines like that before. They were the best I’d ever ...