Most designers find inspiration all over the place and I’m no different. Colors, textures, patterns, materials – and every combination in between can be used for inspiration. I went out to remote West Texas last week on vacation and spent my time hiking around Big Bend National Park and exploring the tiny town of Marfa, Texas (Pop. 2,121).

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My wife has been married to me for a long time so she probably wasn’t surprised when I started taking pictures of walls … but I’m not sure what the people watching me were thinking. I know I’m not the only designer who takes pictures of walls but I’ll admit that I would look around to make sure the coast was clear before I took most of these pictures, it’s just easier than trying to explain what you are doing and that you’re not actually a criminal casing the joint.

I probably have 50 or so “texture” pictures from this trip – as I was sorting and filing my texture and pattern pictures out from my trip, I thought it might make for an interesting post. At least I might get some confirmation that I’m not the only person who does this [please, don’t let me be the only one who does this]

I have only included a small sampling of some of my favorites here, but I saved my favorite one for last. In the town of Marfa, there are abode mud brick walls that are set into place with a cement mortar holding everything in place. Mud bricks have been used for thousands of years and if properly made, they don’t really erode over time. The walls I found all over Marfa look intentionally eroded so that you are left with the cement mortar exposed in an exaggerated manner.

Here is another view of the mud brick at an angle with the exposed cement mortar that really illustrates how deeply worked away the mud bricks are from the face of the wall. I have never seen this done before and I think it is amazingly beautiful. I have some research to do to learn more about how this sort of wall was created – this is one wall that is definitely going into my bag of tricks.

Cheers,