Art: Eric Verret

The Point of Art

The Ink and Acrylic Paintings of Eric Verret

By JoAnna Ordonez

Millions of little dots, that’s how Austin artist, Eric Verret describes his work, ink and the technique of pointillism. What is pointillism you ask? It’s the art of producing a painting with many little dots of color all layered over and again to produce a bright and intriguing work of art. Verret explained “it’s my favorite way of bringing my world to paper”.

Eric, a Navasota native, soon found his way to Austin and worked as a stonemason for over 20 years. It was about 5 years ago that Verret left his job in stone to pursue his artwork fulltime. “I’ve always painted and drawn and mom was an artist too, and then one day I gravitated to the ink and markers,” added Verret.

When you first see one of his paintings, the colors are bright and vibrant and really draw you in. It’s amazing how 3 to 6 colors can have such a rich and full effect that gives you the look of a fine art painting evocative of Monet or Van Gogh. I asked Eric what people thought of his paintings

and he added “when people see my paintings they smile really big, the colors are bright and subject matter is very light hearted and 3d glasses works with my pieces too. “

Verrets subject matter focuses on the quiet spaces in our world, from Texas landscapes to the world under the sea, he finds those special places we all long for. “I love the ocean, so I take that world and make it more imaginary and then translate it to paper. I also love to take walks in the woods, deep back where no human influence has been, to really quiet places that actually exist and make them into a more cartoon world as Dr. Seuss did.” adds Eric.

Eric takes 20 to 40 hours to complete one painting and finds that it can be very relaxing, meditative and rewarding. Starting with a blank piece of paper, he begins an outline of his drawing with the lightest color and then slowly adds more colors from lightest to darkest until the full effect is achieved. Layer by layer the depth grows until the colors jump off the paper and the image is complete.

“I’d like to bring a little bit of light into everybody’s world, some what like a song” adds Eric. His work is bright and cheery, inspiring and fun. His paintings are doing just that and showing how a self-taught artist can bring color and inspiration to light.

Visit Verret online at www.ericverret.com and look for him at Austin Art Shows this fall including the Art on the Square in Georgetown.

JoAnna Ordóñez is a local glass artisan and owner of Vidriosa Glassworks. Her work can be found at The Lucky Lizard (412 East 6th Street), and The Oasis Gift Shop (Comanche lane) and Local Art Shows. Visit her online at www.4coolglass.com.

Sculpture in Glass - Bill Meek

Sculpture in Glass

The Mesmerizing art of Bill Meek

By Jo Anna Ordóñez

Driving the through the hill country this time of year is always an adventure and a discovery at every turn. Sparkling, formed and fractured pieces of glass hanging in the trees caught my eye as I drove through Wimberley and found the studio of Glass artist Bill Meek. Meek Studio and Gallery showcases the many works that Bill has created and his most recent works including trees, angels, tables and sculptural pieces that are not only amazing to look at but beautiful in their form.

Meek is a self-taught artist who over 30 years ago began putting his ideas together in fascinating ways and today his work is featured in galleries throughout Texas and the World. “I’m a carpenter and glass artists, so my tools are those of a carpenter, chisels, hammers, glue and more” said Bill. I was amazed at how beautiful each piece was in that it was a puzzle of many different pieces all placed just right to create a gorgeous work.

I found a small butterfly and Bill added, “my work focuses on the beauty and fragile aspects of life, those things we sometimes take for granted”.

Bill had the opportunity to travel the world and now calls Wimberley, Texas home with his wife Valerie. It seems he was always drawn to sculptures and knew that one day he would grow up to become a sculptor. “I’ve always made a living creating with my hands and work most days and into the night,” said Bill. He began his artistic career as a woodworker who tried to incorporate different ideas into his pieces. In the early 1980’s he moved to Houston and began working on with glass etchings and installations. Soon his love of three dimensional and sculptural pieces took over and he started experimenting with broken glass to create one of a kind pieces.

Bill is a glass artist that works in cold glass, not blown glass. He works the glass, grinds, carves, shapes and polishes it until it fits his vision for the work he is creating. “I try to develop my own methods and style so that my look is distinctly my own” adds Bill. This gives Meek the freedom to create very large pieces. His work is in very high demand right now and some of his larger installations include a large glass and steel mobile towering above the lobby of the Wells Fargo Building in Houston and installations at the George Bush Presidential Library.

Bill said, “I am self-taught and have been blessed with having mentors who believed in, inspired, and challenged me. Over the decades, many of them have passed away and I find myself becoming a mentor to others through volunteering in the non profit Arts From The Heart organization in my hometown of Wimberley.”

Bills work can be found at Gallery on the Square (Wimberley, Texas) and at Artworks (Austin). You can visit Bill Meek at his studio and gallery on Ranch Road 12, two miles north of the Wimberley Square. For more information, call 512-847-6768 or visit www.meekgallery.com .

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JoAnna Ordóñez is a local glass artisan and owner of Vidriosa Glassworks. Her work can be found at The Lucky Lizard (412 East 6th Street), Things She Adores (2306 E. Cesar Chavez, Suite 101), The Oasis Gift Shop (Comanche Lane) The Old Mill Store (Wimberley Square) and Local Art Shows. Visit her online at www.4coolglass.com.

Upcycled Art - The Art of Christine Terrell

Upcycled Art

The Art of Christine Terrell

By JoAnna Ordóñez

These days we are all looking for ways to conserve, reuse and recycle objects into useful and practical things we can all use. One Austin artist is doing just that by re-working metal tins and all their fun designs into wearable art.

Christine Terrell of Adaptive Reuse calls herself a “reckless recycler” but you will find some fun and exciting designs in her line of upcycled jewels. Terrell, grew up on the east coast and while in college found art and began to study it.

She choose to pursue art as a career and received a degree in Graphic Design from the Rochester Institute of Technology. For many years, she worked as a designer and then decided to move to Austin. Terrell had dabbled in different areas of art from accessories to welding and finally found her niche. Terrell added, “Metalwork had been calling me since I left off welding classes when I was pregnant. My house provides no place to safely use explosive fuels and high temperature flames, so I decided to work with only ‘cold’ processes.

As luck would have it, those techniques work great with non-traditional materials.” She then followed her graphic design instincts and moved into the area of reusing metals to create one of a kind jewelry pieces that incorporated images, color and shapes in her designs. “The older I get the more making is like breathing. It is my passion. When people talk about relaxing they are usually envisioning laying on a beach or hiking a mountain. Though I can enjoy both of those activities, when I think about truly relaxing, I think about standing at my workbench uninterrupted for an entire day” added Terrell.



Terrell has a great knack for finding objects that will make great pieces including rings, bracelets, necklaces and more. “I am a thrift store connoisseur. I’m especially drawn to materials that are decidedly not precious–things that some might even consider to be trash.” Most of her pieces take sections of old decorative tins and containers that are then cut to pieces and reworked to create one of a kind pieces of wearable upcycled art with an almost endless variety of raw materials with bright and exciting graphics, you never know what you’ll find in her pieces, from Lone Star to Mary Jane Candies and more.

Her most interesting pieces come in the form of what she calls her “basin forms”. Each tin is pre-selected and then circles are punched in strategic places and then formed into shallow bowls with the printed side showing. Terrell’s charm bracelets are wonderful and have great movement with well over 20 basin charms attached for a super fun and sassy effect.

You can find Christine’s work at shops around the Austin area including Creatures Boutique (1206 S. Congress), Women and Their Work Gift Shop (1710 Lavaca), and the Austin Museum of Art Gift Shop (823 Congress) and online at www.adaptivereuser.com and adaptivereuser.blogspot.com/.




JoAnna Ordóñez is a local glass artisan and owner of Vidriosa Glassworks. Her work can be found at The Lucky Lizard (412 East 6th Street), Things She Adores (2306 E. Cesar Chavez, Suite 101), The Oasis Gift Shop (Comanche Lane) and Local Art Shows. Visit her online at www.4coolglass.com.