Untitled Marfa

One of the ways I love to spice up my watercolor practice is through art prompts, so when I saw this week’s prompt from @landscapeartclub on Instagram I just had to jump in!

Marfa, Texas is a small town near Big Bend National Park — and when I say “near”, I mean about 2 hours from the Panther Junction visitor center. :)

We didn’t head into Marfa on our October trip but seeing the prompt made me so happy — another way to keep those West Texas vibes alive!

My Take on the Prompt

It also gave me an excuse to use this Conté À Paris pencil that I got at a bookstore in Marfa when we were there before the start of the pandemic. I need to research them some more — they seem to be semi-soluble in water! Cool! If you have any info on them I’d love to hear, please leave me a comment below.

In this little sketch I used them for drawing the wonky telephone pools, fence posts, and made a line to represent the railroad track. Watching the trains has this feeling of zen that’s hard to describe.

The light out there is so amazing, and there’s just something about the landscape out there — those distant mountains and yellow grasses all under a big blue sky always calls to me.

Where to Go in Marfa

If you’re ever in Marfa here are some cool places to check out:

• Do Your Thing Coffee – for some coffee + toast magic. They’re getting kind of popular, I liked them better when they were unknown — but the awesome sourdough bread is just as good as ever. I have one of their stickers on my sketchbook cover.
• Marfa Brands, for handmade goods from the Marfa area (love their soap).
• Wrong Marfa, shop and gallery.
• The Get Go for groceries — they have lots of vegan options that you can’t find at Porter’s, a small grocery store chain in West Texas.
• Pizza Foundation — the best pizza, hands-down! They’ve gotten really popular over the years too. Good place for people watching, we once saw some Blue Origin workers there and Wallace Shawn (who played in Willow).
• The Judd Foundation – worth going at least once, not Jason’s fave tho :)
• Ballroom Marfa, contemporary art museum with free admission.
• Stop by the Marfa Visitor Center to see what’s happening (and take photos of the trash cans out front)
• last but not least, Marfa Book Company, where I got that pencil.

Thanks to @landscapeartclub for the virtual visit to Marfa!