There will be a minimum of nine posts in this series. Why nine? Because Lightroom allows me nine keywords that I have put in my “main themes” preset. Last week’s blog is the tenth as it was my introductory post on my keywording system, AND an introduction that we have returned and to expect the stories of the images. So, here we go.

As previously stated I currently have the following keywords in my “main themes” preset: art, buildings, food, music, nature, people, signs, transportation, and urban. Today’s theme is art.

In my first edit, I do a couple of things. I mark poor quality photos with an X to later delete, a P which flags “wow” images for future editing, and assign groups of images with at least one, sometimes more than one,  keyword, usually from my main themes list, for future keywording. In this case, I then pulled up all of the art images to further assign keywords. I typed art into the keyword set box and nine more words came up to make it easy to further identify photos. Those keywords are folk, glass, graffiti, metal, murals, painting, patterns, statues,  and stickers. I’m in the early stages of setting up these presets and as I discover better words to use I adjust the preset.

Another thing I’d like to point out is that I only had three cameras with me, an iPhone 8, a Canon Powershot S120 point and shoot, and a Lumix DX8 micro 4/3 body with my “travel” lens, a 28-300 equivalent. I’ll identify each image with the camera used.

That being said, let’s check out the art!

iPhone 8

When we got blown off the beach at Padre Island National Seashore and headed to Harlingen we had to find a way to fill our three additional days. On our first extra day, we went to South Padre Island, driving through Port Isabelle on the way. SPI as the locals refer to it is the polar opposite of the National Seashore. It is developed and very touristy. Think south Florida. On our way over we stopped to walk around Port Isabelle and found this dolphin sculpture. It turns out they are everywhere. This is Port Isabelle’s public art animal.

As a side note, these two art pieces were also assigned the main themes keyword of animals.

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On SPI you have to walk under this great big turtle to get into a store that sells all things beach.

iPhone 8

We also discovered that, in Walasco, we were about six miles from Progresso, Sonora. Yay! Mexico for a day! This wall, however, was at a restaurant we ate at in Harlingen upon our return.

Canon S120 Powershot

In Houston with my cousin Dave and his spouse Bong, while wandering around downtown, we came upon this musician.

Lumix

We only gave Galveston one day and really enjoyed ourselves wandering around and looking at the old buildings and seaport life. This sculpture was out at the end of a dock near the oil well museum.

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Oh yes, now we’re in New Orleans. Lots of art here. This cane belongs to our Voodoo Museum tour guide.

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We were in NOLA for the first French Quarter Music Festival since Covid and there were a lot of art vendors for our enjoyment.

Lumix

We were in Lousiana for three days, on the second day we went out to the Whitney Plantation Museum. It was a sobering experience and is the only plantation in Louisiana that focuses on the lives of the slaves more than the plantation owners. These two statues were outside of a slave house.

Lumix

We found this art exhibit in Dollywood. For me, it was the highlight. As much as we LOVE Dolly Parton we did not love her theme park. Maybe I’m just over theme parks and their fakeness. Oh well, the umbrellas were cool.

We rescued Dollywood day by leaving and heading to Gatlinburg. Evonne had told us that Gatlinburg is a popular place for the folks in Cincinnati to vacation. We began at the visitor center and found a Skyride that takes you to the top of a mountain where you can walk across suspension bridges and take in the views. More on that later. What you get here in the art blog is a sticker on the window of the restaurant we ate at from Hopi Radio!!

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Lumix

We didn’t spend enough time in the Asheville, NC area but I DID manage to find this very cute statue in a neighbor’s yard. I could do a whole post on just art in Asheville.

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in the Hillsborough, NC area these are the two art items that made the cut. The above dog is leaning up against my cousin’s house and below is one of a hundred mosaics, part of a public art project where folks can create a mosaic with the theme of I Love Hillsborough.

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A shark-headed girl, sitting on a bench, in the lobby of an art museum, in Cincinnati. I loved it.

Lumix

This is a May Pole blowing in the wind in the Amana Colonies of Iowa. We were turned on to this adventure by a friend we were texting with who used to live in Iowa. It’s so great to be able to add last-minute adventures while traveling.

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Now we’re in Denver, our last stop before heading home. The above blanket made of old ski sweaters was found in a thrift store in Iron Springs located in the mountains outside of Denver. They have lovely hot springs there and Colorado Style pizza. More on that later.

iPhone 8

One afternoon we drove down to the Santa Fe Arts District in Denver to wander around and see what art was on display. This is what we found.

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iPhone 8

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I hope you enjoyed the brief art exhibit of our seven-week journey. Until next week!

Happy shooting!