FIRST, A NOTE ABOUT THE LEAD

If you're enjoying our content, please consider subscribing, but more importantly, consider our premium plans because this newsletter will be accessible only through our two payment options. Our goal here is simple: to provide content focused on Kerr County and the Texas Hill Country and doing it sustainably. We have two payment plans, including one for $54.99 per year.

Also, if you like this content, please send it to your friends, neighbors and family members and help us spread the word about The Kerr County Lead. To subscribe, click here: https://kerrcountylead.com/subscribe

If everything goes according to plan, this is just the start of Fredericksburg High School senior Olivia Findley's art career — and maybe her sister's too.

The Fredericksburg teens have been busy painting a mural at Kerrville's H-E-B Tennis Center — a work that will showcase Olivia Findley's promising talent. The mural is a colorful invitation to come out and play tennis.

Commissioned by Big Seed, the Kerrville-based arts organization for those 23 years old and under, Olivia Findley expects completion of the 48-foot mural on Saturday.

Olivia Findley at work on Nov. 23, 2021.

At Fredericksburg High School, Olivia Findley is a top student and a shortstop on the Billies softball team, where she hit nearly .500 last season and was a whiz on defense. However, her Advanced Placement Studio Art classwork helped her earn her first large-scale paid commission.

"I really like focusing on the little details," said Olivia Findley, who will be attending McMurry University in Abilene in the fall. "I'm a big oil paint fan."

With an assist from Kerrville artist Kristin Larue, who met Olivia Findley in a Fredericksburg church, the Fredericksburg senior made her pitch to the Big Seed board of directors, which decided the winning commission — funded by H-E-B.

"She responded with a very clear proposal," Larue said. "Her proposal was spot on."

Bella Findley adds paint to her sister's mural at the H-E-B Tennis Center in Kerrville.

The work is a call-to-action to play tennis and enjoy the community.

While Larue is not part of the Big Seed board, she often plays an integral role in guiding the large-scale work done by the nonprofit. Earlier this year, she helped steer commissions to another Fredericksburg group of teenaged artists to paint a mural at the Olympic Pool in Kerrville.

There were no applicants from Kerrville in the process, according to Larue, hinting at some mild frustration with that development.

However, Larue marvels at the organized work of Olivia Findley and her younger sister, Bella, who have been painting all week.

"It's even better then what she presented," Larue said.

Joined by her younger sister, Bella Findley — the pair are in the middle of a nine-kid family — the work has gone smoothly. Bella Findley is an eighth-grader and is appreciative of her older sister's guidance.

"She's been really patient with me since I'm not always doing stuff like this," Bella Findley said. "She has really helped me with the painting."