Rainbow Armadillo by Louise Reading

Rainbow Armadillo
Louise Reading
Colored Pencils, Ink and Glitter
16"h x 19.5"w - framed
2023

Early one morning, just before the light really settled in, I was walking my beloved Jack Russell terrier. My head was full. I had just retired from teaching and knew I wanted to branch out into the big world of art, but I’d no real idea of what to create or where to begin. Lost in my own thoughts, I was suddenly interrupted. In the distance I spied a cat in the neighbor’s yard. Instantly tightening my grip on the leash, we approached cautiously. I noticed this cat was moving quite strangely, sort of… hopping. “Injured,” I thought. The closer we got, the more peculiar this cat seemed. What on earth was the matter with it? Why was its back hunched up like that and what was this strange irregular gait? As I got closer and the morning got brighter, I gasped. Before I was not a cat at all. Instead, I was in the presence of an absolutely spectacular creature, surely not of this earth. This was something prehistoric, alien, impossible and yet, having lived in Texas all my life, I had seen several destroyed on the sides of roads. I gazed in amazement. I wanted to shout out to the sleeping neighbors, “Look! You’re missing it.” When I got home, I knew exactly what I wanted to create, an animal so magical he was the perfect symbol to enchant the streets of Austin, Texas.

Get to Know the Austin Artist:
In the early 1970's, my family emigrated from England to the tall grass prairies and live oak woodlands of rural Texas.As an adult, I remained in Texas majoring in art at Sam Houston State University and education at Texas A&M University. I became an award winning teacher in Austin,Texas turning my creative hand to anything from Language Arts Instructional Specialist to high school art. I have recently retired and spend my full time energy on my family and my artistic endeavors.

Today, I still spend as much time as possible in the wild beauty of Texas, hiking Austin’s Violet Crown Trail and camping across the state. There is nothing more lovely to me than being outside on a crisp Texas morning with a nice cup of hot coffee and a few walnuts in my pocket for the gray squirrels. I believe my art is inspired by the sparkling magic I find daily in the Texas Woods.