Texas Rock Art

By Bonnie Eissler

After retiring from their careers as a master mechanic and school principal, Daniel and Vicki Jacobs turned their talents toward rock painting, a totally new and artistic endeavor. This new hobby soon turned into a business. Thirteen years later, they’re still selling colorful porch and garden art, usually featuring a Texas, religious, or nature theme, from their open-air shop on Wimberley Square.

Daniel and Vicki are both from the Rio Grande Valley. “We grew up together,” Vicki says, “our families knew each other, we all attended a tiny Baptist church in Sebastian,” a rural community very close in proximity to the largest ranch in the United States, King Ranch.

Vicki moved to Wimberley in 2003 when she took a job as school principal in San Marcos. Two years later, she reconnected with Daniel when he and his mom drove her dad to Wimberley for a visit “because Dad wanted to see where I was living,” and a year later she and Daniel were married in a backyard wedding.

Vicki credits her mother, Ruth Long, for any artistic talents she has. “What little I do comes straight from her,” she says, “she was a true artist who painted landscapes, seascapes, animals and portraits in oils in her home studio… there was always art in our home.”

Despite their mother’s example and efforts to inspire her children to create their own art, they weren’t responsive at that time to her encouragement. “None of us took an interest,” Vicki says, “but now we all have Mom’s art in our houses and we cherish her artwork.”

After Vicki retired, she had no hobbies. “I was always a mother and a schoolteacher and a principal, there wasn’t much time for hobbies,” she says. Vicky and Daniel live out in the country and they enjoy going for walks on their property. As everyone who lives in this area knows and visitors soon discover, the Wimberley terrain is a rocky one, and it was during one of these walks that Vicki found a particularly nice looking rock and decided to paint their street number on it along with a big colorful star. This was the beginning of their rock art.

Friends saw the rock with the street number and star and liked it. This sparked the idea to do more. “Although art was new to Daniel, he does a great job,” Vicky says. “He’s a gifted master mechanic and spent years restoring classic cars,” she says, recalling one time when he brought home a box full of parts and worked out on the back porch building a motorcycle from all of the parts.

Even though they initially used a rock from their own property, most of those rocks are too dark in color, too rough and bumpy for the paintings, which require a smooth surface. So they get materials from landscaping companies that have pallets of flagstone. Vicki especially enjoys painting Texas wildflowers, like poppies and bluebonnets, and incorporating Christian themes in some of the paintings, but says that what means the most to her about making the art is the great connection she feels to her mother. “This shop has been such a blessing,” she says.

They started going to Market Days in Kyle and Blanco “to test the waters where no one knew us,” Vicky says. As her confidence grew, she approached a lady who had a small shop on the Wimberley Square and asked about putting some of the rock art in her shop.

Les Crane, who owned several of the buildings let them rent the patio next to In Style Accessories. “That was 2010 and we’ve been in the same location all this time.”

“We can do business even when we aren’t right there at the shop,”

See TEXAS ROCK ART, Page 12 she says, “our rock art is there and our sign with phone number and name. People call me all the time. They like that we’re a small mom and pop local business, they like that Daniel and I are there and that we’re the ones who make the art. People love that.”

You’ll find Daniel and Vicki on the Square most weekends, depending on the weather, although there are occasional getaways that recall earlier times and avocations. Daniel sold his last classic car, a 1957 Chevy several years ago and bought a new 2019 Corvette. Last October, they drove to Mississippi to “Cruisin’ the Coast,” a festival that began in 1996 to celebrate antique, classic and hot rod vehicles, where they met other car buffs. “Daniel still enjoys the drives, still loves the car tours,” Vicki says. Photos by Bonnie Eissler.

FYI • Find Texas Rock Art on Old Kyle Road, on the patio next door to In Style Accessories. Open on the weekends. For more information, call 512-618-0425.