neighborhood findings

yesterday morning i went for a walk in my bouldin creek neighborhood. these are the things i found. the previous morning i saw green parrots eating sunflowers in my yard and screech owls on the wire at dusk.

-stella

Happy Fourth of July

Hope you all had a fun 4th of July. After a fun day of hanging out with friends, we took a nice walk down to Auditorium Shores and watched the fireworks. -brian

Amy and Richard's Driskill wedding

We spent this past Saturday at the Driskill Hotel in downtown Austin, helping celebrate Amy and Richard's wedding. The always amazing Amy and Scott of Amy's Platinum weddings were the coordinators and David Kurio, who out did himself, was the florist.

The day started at 10am with an elegant brunch held upstairs off the Mezzanine in the Maximillan room.

Then the bride and her bridal party, her daughter Katya was the maid of honor, went upstairs to get ready. While the guys went over to Belvedere's on Congress Avenue for a shave.

An intimate group gathered in the Crystal room for the ceremony, and then on to the newly renovated Victorian Room for the reception. It was beautiful. The theme was Asian, with sushi and sticky rice, a wok station and fortune cookies. The room was drapped in red and black with asian simplicity. The band Tres provided an elegant jazz backdrop to the event.

The day ended with everyone hanging outside on The Driskill's front patio enjoying the perfect weather.

Ben White carnival

Here are three new ones in the on-going parking lot carnival series. These are from the carnival that has been happening for the past week or so on Ben White. My dream day would most certainly involve photography and rides. -brian

Ami and Dan's wedding at the Allan House

O.K., so I know I chose too many photos of the bride for this blog entry, but I couldn't help myself. She was so lovely and I enjoyed photographing her, and I liked the results.

It was a simple June wedding held at the Allan House in downtown Austin. A gem of a place that makes you feel like you just discovered a secret garden.

Congratulation's Ami and Dan!

The newest latest

So it took a while, but I just finished these two paintings yesterday. I think I have replaced my obsession with berries with loquats, for the time being anyway.

Still got a few more to go before the Davis Gallery exhibit. The opening reception has been changed, for anyone paying attention, it will now be Saturday, October 25th, 2008.
Click on this link if you would like to view more paintings:

www.davisgalleryaustin.com/artists.alesi.html

I will be showing with David Leonard and Miranda Gray.

Courtney and Martin jumped the broom!

This was a fabulous wedding!

I might be a little bias because these two are friends, but I really thought this was a beautiful event. Held in Killeen, Texas at the welcoming home of Courtney's parents, the wedding was truly a community effort, my favorite kind. Courtney and Martin, along with help from family and friends, did all of the preparations, down to cooking the most wonderful buffet of food; gumbo, plantains, seaweed salad... not to mention the amazing cakes, one of which was a rum cake made by one of the guests.

They also made the favors, candles and buttons with the Osram Ne Nsoromma symbol, a moon and star symbol of love, faithfulness and harmony. The proverb goes, the North Star has a deep love for marriage. She is always in the sky waiting for the return of the moon, her husband.

The ceremony was performed by Courtney's grandfather, and finished with the two jumping the broom.

After the ceremony and a few family photos, the bride and groom changed out of their formal dress so they could dance the hot Texas summer night away in comfort and style.
Martin is a musician, playing in such bands as Antibalas and Ocote Soul Sounds, so it was no wonder they had a friend who was a fabulous DJ. Courtney's dad even got up and MC'd for awhile.

All and all it was a good time. Congratulations Courtney and Martin, well done!