Welcome to the Linda Calvert Jacobson website. I hope that you enjoy learning about my wildflower art and about my life as an artist as you click through the pages here. You can browse my online gallery of contemporary wildflower paintings, find out about my Casa de Linda Art Center in the heart of Texas, discover what some of my collectors say about my work, and sign up to get e-mails with my latest news and event information. But that’s only part of the story. I’d like to tell you a little about what inspires me, about events that have shaped my artistic spirit.
Perhaps I should begin by explaining that I am a native Texan and still call the Lone Star State home. Here, our roadsides are blanketed with wildflowers every spring. Of course, the Texas State Highway Department, as well as many good Samaritans, help by spreading seeds during the fall to help ensure a good show the following spring. And we are all indebted to former first lady, Lady Bird Johnson, who was instrumental in establishing our state beautification program and even co-founded the National Wildflower Research Center in Austin, renamed the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in 1997.
We have many native species of wildflowers here, but by far the No. 1 wildflower and the most recognized is our Texas state flower, the bluebonnet. This most beloved of Texas symbols, bluebonnets are part of some of my fondest childhood memories.
I grew up on a family farm in South Texas. My father changed careers mid-life and went from running a construction business on the Texas Gulf coast to being a farmer just south of San Antonio, only a few miles from the ruins of an old Spanish mission. This move happened in the late 1950s and South Texas was just emerging from a drought. Like his new neighbors, my father chose which fields to plant what crops; when and where the cattle would go to pasture. As a very young girl in the 1960s, I remember one field that my dad never plowed and never planted. I asked him about it once and he told me he liked the bluebonnets, despite the fact that his neighbors couldn’t understand how he could just let the flowers, or “weeds” as they called them, run wild on perfectly good farmland.
That is my earliest memory of Texas bluebonnets and one of my fondest memories of my father. Later, I would be drawn to the vast variety of Texas wildflowers that grow naturally in various parts of the state such as lantanas, verbenas, winecups, poppies, primroses and buttercups, to name just a few. I have since learned that this appeal is universal as wildflowers are found and admired through out the United States and around the world in ways that go far beyond their visual beauty.
Like most children, I loved to draw from the time I could hold a crayon or pencil in my hand. My parents were extremely encouraging; both in terms of making sure I had basic materials and in providing praise that fed the soul of this young budding artist. I owe them a huge thanks of gratitude and dedicate my work to their memory.
I took a long road to get where I am today, with many detours along the way. Yet, the road always led me back to my art which has taken many forms of expression over the decades. Today, I draw inspiration from my past and as well as the present as I express my soul in my interpretive colorful wildflower paintings that allows the viewer to be an integral part of the experience. By using a somewhat abstract technique, I invite the person looking at my artwork to delve deeper into themselves as well as the paintings. I believe that this creates an opportunity to personalize the vision seen and emotions felt. I look to the future with the hope of encouraging the simple joy I see in wildflowers for generations to come. I’ve been told that my paintings are ‘happy.’ If my art brings joy to someone’s heart and spirit, what more could I ask for?
Thank you for visiting my website. Please contact me if you have any questions about my work. Until we meet...
“May your life be like a field of Wildflowers — filled with color
and overflowing with joy!”
—Linda Calvert Jacobson