Blog Archives
the roof-giants
One of my favorite things I see during wanders through small towns are the civic-pride murals. I can’t recall ever seeing one that looked new – mostly they look like they were left over from the town’s centennial that’s already a quarter-century in the past. The paint is likely to be faded and/or chipped. Sometime’s the perspective is wonky. Or the scale is weird. Sometimes what was an accepted depiction of people a few decades ago seems terribly inappropriate now. There’s always something to see, though.
This time there was the the rare spotting of a whole family of giants standing on top of the farmer’s co-op gin. How frightening that must be for the workers and the horses way down below, like little ants compared the the local giants.
Slaton, Texas
photographed 5.29.2026
Genres of Urban Art
There’s the professional, colorful, and complex one.
And the orange-and-black version.
And the spray-painted, hastily-done one.
And the peeling, tan paint, if you are pretty liberal in your interpretation of “art.”
San Antonio, Texas
photographed 9.7.2015
by the gifts of the citizens
About five or six times a year, I head over to Crosbyton, Texas, for a meeting. About four or five times a year, I somehow overlook grabbing my camera before I leave. This time, though, not only did I have my camera, but I got to town a little early and had time to circle the block to get this shot.
I’d say it’s been a while since the citizens of Crosbyton donated “gifts” that resulted in this mural.
It’s also been a while since there was passenger train service in Crosbyton, so the depot depicted here (I guess) represents the artist’s nostalgia over bygone days when one could catch a train to…somewhere. The Texas Historical Society has this to say about trains, “On April 10, 1911, the first train left on the Crosbyton-South Plains Railroad.” No word on where it was going, if it ever came back, if there were any subsequent departures.
Crosbyton, Texas
photographed 10.21.2013
One Day | One Image 