REX HAUSMANN

“Dear Theo: In Search Of The Color Yellow”

Hunting Blind #1  

(Kansas, The Homer Farm 2022) 

Acrylic on canvas with water from the stream. 

96” x 72” 

 

These events happened. They are real. 

 

  The second day of two hawks.  

Rex Hausmann,  

From the little farm in Boerne, Texas. 2022

 

Remember this day dear friend. 

Remember this day. 

It is the day of two hawks. 

Two Hawks. Tandem. Two souls. A rare site. 

Bird sign. 

“I saw the dark man” again. My mom said. 

The dark ghost.

The Lord’s Prayer drove him back. 

Still works.

 

The Light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness did not understand it or overpower it or appropriate it or absorb it [and is unreceptive to it]. - John 1:5 

 

When I saw “The Darkness” I called it “them”.  Them, not one … but four. 

2015. A summer I won’t forget. 

They visited me after the hole in my leg was made by a young man who didn’t want to make it. Peer pressure in the worst way (and not to his advantage, a tool of destruction). Caught a bullet… almost died, but I didn’t. 2015 I grew. 

 

What doesn’t kill you does make you stronger. 

Jacob tustled with the same angel I was assigned and I’m not sure who won  . 

 

I still walk with a hitch. A broken black rosary in my left pocket  … from the Vatican. Seriously … from the Vatican. 

As in Rome. 

 

They live in the trees, the four ghost brothers. The “they”. They live in the Savannah trees. Haven’t seen them in years. Don’t want to see them. 

They aren’t welcome in this place. 

 

Saw them yesterday. 

I’m not afraid of them, but they aren’t welcome. 

 

The first, the man with one eye. Kind of a man, sort of. The Elk Beast, powerful but silent. The dead eagle and the “dark man”. 

BE GONE FROM THIS PLACE. 

Jesus. Father. Holy Spirit. Fight!!! 

I saw them when I was shot. They aren’t welcome now and they weren’t then. 

 

The four brothers. Old as caves. Been around a long time. 

 

The old places in town, San Antonio. The places that people have lived a long time, generations. The places by the old oaks where the streams flow. Where the deer have slept for as long as one can remember. They started San Antonio because of these places. I like these places. 

 

ESPINOSA-OLIVARES-AGUIRRE EXPEDITION.

The expedition that started San Antinio in 1706. Not to far from the studios. They call it an Entrada. 

 

We’ve been here 48 years. 

The places progress long forgot. 

We progress. The Mill. The daily. 

 

The deer. 

They know the way more than we do. 

 

Jesus provides. Jesus heals. 

I recognize the saber rattle. 

 

I believe the praying mantises keep the four brothers at bay with the crickets. Crickets & Mantises are holy animals. 

 

True story. 50 praying mantises all flocked one night. Wings out. Baby ones. Old ones. Young ones. Moon light. We were in the pool. Total magic. Totally unexpected. A holy day. Nature teaches you a lot. 

 

The day of the subtle breeze of the Holy Spirit. A calming balm. 

The day of the giver of life. Life. Light. 

To hell with the darkness. To hell, be gone. 

The day of honoring thy family and God before all things. Ephesians 6:2-3

 

A day my nose bled from stress (actually that was the day before). Red River. Just started. River of life. Heart strong. Focus great. Jesus and the garden, I get it. His brow, my nose. 

That day speaking on Abbot Suger with Mark, 1142 AD. The day of internal radiance. 

The light against the dark, at all odds … and then there is ceviche down stairs on a wendsday special. Delicious. 

 

Embrace every moment. You're not promised another. 

 

“Rex this is a book of poetry.” 

“Mark it looked like a legal book … I guess it’s the two underneath that are the legal stuff.”

 

The day all things almost weren’t any more, a point of no turning back. 

A point of the gray. 

The gray that was starting to enter in. 

The gray that was stopped. 

The light penetrated the darkest of black. 

The black of the night on night. 

The dark night of the soul. 

I guess we need to see darkness, so we can again see the light. 

The best poetry is real. 

That’s what makes it good. 

Let us hope we can live through it. 

On with the daily. 

 

It was a good day. 

 

* If you see two hawks together, it is a rare event. For those who are in a committed relationship, two hawks can be a sign to cherish your relationship with your significant other and to not take them for granted. If you are single, it can be a sign that your romantic soul mate exists.

 

*Praying mantis: As a good luck charm, the Praying Mantis is widely accepted. It's a sign that you'll have a good run of things. You can look forward to some good fortune in the near future, in a variety of forms. It is also a symbol of peace, focus, and concentration because of the Praying Mantis' appearance.

 

Notes: 

 

Notes on Kansas: friends, roots, ties to the earth, Symphoney in the trees. 

If you all were woundering “what’s with Kansas?!” I would answer - roots. 

In Lawrence -  Darin M. White & Shannon White and what I would call one of the most beautiful families I know. We have worked on many many projects together over many years. Darin and I talk weekly and have chatted about life for over 12 - 13 years now. Each conversation important. 

 

Over the years we have filled 59 passenger busses with artists, worked on Museum projects, lamented about life’s mysteries and generally stayed content. His wife Shannon is amazing as are their kiddos and the family is core to who completes their world. The Casbah Burger Stand in Lawrence Kansas is one of my fave spots on earth  (there are also great tacos in Lawrence as well). 

 

In the farm land of Kansas / Dr Mark E. Homer & Denise Gutierrez Homer are what I consider a beautiful marriage of artist & artist. Dr Homer being a doc (an artist at heart, also thier is an art to medicine for sure) and Denise a painter, political activist and former candidate for mayor (yes, Denise ran for mayor, Go Densie Go!). These two lovely human beings have a farm in Kansas where the trees complete thier own Symphoney. Densie and Mark have also held a studio at The Millworks for over 7 years being part of tbe communtiy of our studios faithfully for a long time at The Hausmann Millworks: A Creative Community in San Antonio, Texas. 

 

To be able to re visit some roots in Kansas at the early days of The Hausmann Millworks: A Creative Community, and then complete a painting that I’ve been thinking about for some time, the first of “The Hunting Blinds” was just more than words can express (look for the next one at Art Miami with Burgess Modern + Contemporary in 2022).

 

Love farms, love painting, love these people … just a whole lot of good in this world. From the heart land… can anyone say Pierre Bonnard in Kansas?!?!  - Rex Hausmann 2022

 

***

 

Rex Hausmann ~ further notes: 

 

I started by taking my grandfathers painting easel all over Europe. Mostly France, southern France. As I painted I personally “chased” the modernists. The modernists being artists like Mattiese, Picasso, Monet, Legere, Bonnard … for about 5 years or so. Then I took this plen air painting set all around San Antonio, Breckinridge Park with Paint in The Park and The Breckinridge Park Conservancy and the studios at The Hausmann Millworks: A Creative Community, The Texas Hill Country and places like Montell, Texas, Hunt Texas and Boerne, Texas … mostly on little ranches and family homes painting out in the open … now I’ve been thinking of these “hunting blinds” constructed of canvas(s)… tracing texas history of hunting (as my grandfather hunted, and my uncles but instead of looking for a deer im “hunting” after understanding of adventure, of painting in the moment and in an environment as well as history, listening to the wrestling of the trees and the sounds of nature … getting up early to “catch the light” as Monet did and telling stories like Paul Gogahn, the context and the places where these other artists found voice. 

 

I go back to the studio at Hausmann Millworks: A Creative Community most every day, unless I am traveling … and garden, chat and paint with the studios. Each and every day is a pure gift. Your not promised another, so make the most of what you can with what you have. I truley hope you enjoy this view of yellow, cause in this time in the world there is a lot to be sad about… but inversely there is a lot to be thankful for as well. Every day you wake up. Every day you can work, every day you find friend and family and enjoy the sun… in search of THE YELLOW.