Log Cabin Village

work in progress
The Picard Cabin
8 x 10
oil on canvas

I joined three friends (Linnea, Moira, and Dan) to paint in log cabin village today. This is a park in Fort Worth where many of our areas oldest buildings dating back to the 1850s have been relocated. I first came here when I was on a field trip in third grade.

The Picard Cabin

The buildings are in wonderful condition for their age. They are furnished from the correct time period. There are also costumed docents in period costumes working on crafts and occupations from the 1800s. I chose to paint the Picard Cabin today.

Inside one of the cabins

A one room cabin

Most of these cabins are small and the families that lived in them were  large. The ground floor was the kitchen, living area, and parents bedroom. Most of the children slept in upper story lofts.

The grist mill

One of the  most unusual building is the grist mill.This is one of only three working grist mills in the state. The other two are in San Antonio and near Waco.

The Foster Cabin

The Foster Cabin is one of the largest cabins in the state. It was a cotton plantation home. It was built in the 1850s by the slaves on the plantation and the craftsmanship is considered outstanding. It's a very impressive building with its large porch and balcony. One of the things I was told was that these buildings are actually considered to be log homes instead of log cabins. The difference is that log cabins have round logs, are not as finely built, and were usually meant to be lived in for a shorter period of time. These homes all have squared off logs. Most of them have been added onto and expanded, and were lived in for long periods of time.

My five sedums

 After painting and lunch I went to a nursery near my house and purchased several new plants for my garden. It is really starting to get hot and I hope the plants I bought today will be able to endure the Texas heat of our summers.

The three herbs I bought,thyme, margoram, and curry

I bought five different types of sedums. One of the great things about sedums is that neither the heat or the cold usually bothers them too much. I also bought three more herbs they are perennials so they should come back each year.

Turks Cap

The last plant I bought is a Turk's cap. My grandmother had a lot of these in her yard. They were always a bright orange color. The one I bought is a new variety, it is sort of a pink color. It is always interesting to me when people create new varieties of old plants.