Olympic bling

Last night we went to a charity event/party we enjoy every year called "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner." You go to a cool dinner at a private home or a restaurant and then gather at Nest, a fine furniture store downtown for dessert. We were able to walk to both places and then walk home. Here are two gentlemen who went to a Winter Olympics dinner where everyone was supposed to dress up like a competition skater. They did a fine job of it! What a fun time!

Art on Great Streets

Austin's Great Streets project expands sidewalks, includes seating, trees with lights, room for outdoor cafe tables, etc. And in the last couple of weeks this interesting fountain (and a bench in a similar style) has been installed on Second Street. It will probably grow on us. When I went over to take a picture, a fellow was lounging on the bench and he said "It's here to stay now." We wondered if he was the artist.

The Top?

We've been watching the construction of the W Hotel for a year and a half. It was a hole in the ground. Our friend Jackie caught the crane poking ominously toward her AMLI apartment. She also took a very amusing picture of construction workers beating the heat there, too, and also one revealing the work of pouring columns. At one time it took fog to block our view of the top of the Austonian, but now the shorter but closer W does the job. We think all the extra steel you see now means the building is at or near the top floor. Hopefully this building will open at some point in 2010 or early 2011 and create new sparks on Second Street.

Bright Colors

Did we mention it's been gray for a couple of days? And raining and making being outside an unpleasant, dash for cover affair? Well the owners of this house did their paint and trim to brighten up just such a situation.

Natural light

It's been cold and rainy here and we haven't been able to get many new shots. But here is a photo I took for the Arthouse blog on Tuesday. (My part is called "The Renovation According To Forrest Preece.") The holes in the wall you see here have been carefully cut and will soon hold lighted green glass blocks which will form the signature visual statement of the building on the outside wall. Shot from inside with the construction going on, they yield a ghostly effect.

Matching up

Here is a shot of a painting I did a few years ago and some flowers we bought the other day for a dinner party. They are in the dining room of our condo now. When we brought the flowers home, I was thinking that they would make a good match for the painting. The photo is a bit blurry, since I had to turn the flash off to avoid making a light flare on the painting.

Wood Always Has Its Place

Sometimes it seems that construction is all concrete, glass and steel. But wood always finds its place in projects. The wood here is the framing around the holes in the south wall of the Arthouse which will soon hold lighted green glass inserts. All told there will be over 170 of these inserts on both the south wall as shown here and the part of the north wall that protrudes above the adjoining building. Forrest is doing a blog about this construction project just as he did the Ballet Austin Butler Dance Education Center.

Today is a theme day for City Daily Photo. The theme is wood as you might have guessed. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.