Texas Places | Rodeo Queen Fine Art

Texas Places gathers five paintings of real places, from the San Antonio River to a porch in Gruene and a river in the Hill Country. Two show the River Walk, one shows the South Llano River, one a front porch in Gruene and one a stone doorway in warm sun.

The River Walk paintings look at the same bridge from two directions. San Antonio River Walk sets the stone arch of Rosita’s Bridge beside the stage of the Arneson River Theatre, with the river below holding the reflections of both. Rosita’s Bridge Over San Antonio Riverwalk turns tall, with bougainvillea and hibiscus filling the lower part of the sheet and the bridge crossing the top. Seen one after the other, the two paintings make a small visit to the same stretch of river.

The River Walk has its own history. Robert H. H. Hugman became the WPA’s architect for the project in the summer of 1938, and ground was broken on March 29, 1939. The Arneson River Theatre places its stage and its seating on opposite banks of the river. City officials dedicated the bridge as Rosita’s Bridge in 1982, in honor of Rosita Fernández, San Antonio’s First Lady of Song.

Gruene Table on Front Porch moves the scene to a sunny porch, where a deep green table holds a row of potted plants and a handwritten card. Gruene began at a crossing on the Guadalupe River, three miles north of New Braunfels, and the entire town is on the National Register of Historic Places.

South Llano Texas Riverscape follows a river through autumn trees toward violet hills, with rounded stones in gold and rust along the banks. The South Llano rises in Edwards County and runs northeast for 55 miles to meet the North Llano just east of Junction.

Sanctuary Mission Door brings the view close to a single doorway, a tall wooden panel under an arch of small bricks, set in a wall of ochre and gold stone. Its title names a doorway of welcome, and the wall holds layer upon layer of warm color.

Across the five paintings, Donna gives each place its own light: sunlight on porch boards, the glint of a current, warm stone in full sun and the shade of palms along the river. Each note beside a painting points out one place to look first. The River Walk pair also hangs in Along the River Walk, and the river paintings meet again in Rivers & Reflections.

The Paintings

Potted flowers catch the sunlight on a green porch table beside a window. — Gruene Table on Front Porch
M. Donna GoodWatercolor

A deep green table stands on a pale plank floor in full sun, holding a row of potted plants in terracotta and wooden boxes. Its long shadow falls toward the lower right, which places the sun high and to the left. A handwritten card hangs from the front edge of the table, the kind of sign a porch shop uses to name its plants. To the left, a garden path opens in soft blended greens. The porch boards are laid in long strokes of warm gray and cream, with cool blue shadows that follow the grain of the wood.

Open the Painting

A stone bridge arches over the San Antonio River, where trees and riverside buildings reflect in the water. — San Antonio River Walk
M. Donna GoodWatercolor

Rosita’s Bridge arches across the river beside the stage of the Arneson River Theatre, with its white stucco building, balcony and three arched openings, each holding a bell. Flowers in pink, red and gold line the curving stone edge of the stage. A small red boat passes under the arch, a single bright note at the center of the picture. The river below acts as a mirror, repeating the bridge, the stage and the trees in long strokes of violet, blue and green. Fine dark lines describe the stones of the bridge and the walls of the stage.

Open the Painting

Vivid pink flowers and tropical leaves frame an arched bridge on the San Antonio River Walk. — Rosita’s Bridge Over San Antonio Riverwalk
M. Donna GoodWatercolor

The stone bridge crosses the top of the painting in a long warm arch, and through its opening the eye finds the river and small figures under a red umbrella. Donna painted the bricks of the bridge one by one. The lower two thirds of the sheet belong to the flowers: bougainvillea in magenta, pink and violet tumbling over a terracotta planter, and large coral hibiscus blossoms at the right. Many small shapes of color laid side by side make the mass of bougainvillea seem to shimmer. The water beneath the bridge sparkles with small touches of white.

Open the Painting

A clear river winds between green and gold trees toward low Texas hills. — South Llano Texas Riverscape
M. Donna GoodWatercolor

The South Llano River enters at the lower edge and curves back toward violet hills, its water painted in blue, violet and silver. Rounded stones in gold, rust and brown break the surface and line the banks, each with a cool blue shadow on its lower side. The trees on both banks wear autumn yellow, gold, orange and green, with a few dark pines among them. Donna lays the water in horizontal strokes, leaving bright streaks of white paper where the light catches the current. Near the far bank, the trees reappear as soft touches of gold in the water.

Open the Painting

Warm ochre stone surrounds a rounded wooden doorway, with small plants growing along the wall. — Sanctuary Mission Door
M. Donna GoodWatercolor

A tall wooden door stands under an arch of small bricks, with vertical bars across its upper section and a strip of soft turquoise along the frame. Around it, the wall is built from large rounded stones and smaller bricks in ochre, gold, rust and umber. Spatters, drips and soft blooms of pigment suggest weathered plaster and old stone. The light falls from the upper left, warming the arch and leaving the lower stones in a deeper amber. At the foot of the door, small plants with white and yellow flowers grow in the sandy ground.

Open the Painting

Shop This Collection