The following is from the website of the Rockdale, Texas newspaper, Rockdale Reporter, October 20, 2011.
“Artist C.P. Montague (Pauline Thweatt) studio, home are now B&Bs near Jonah”
Former Rockdale resident became renowned Hill Country landscapist
Accomplished Hill Country landscape artist and former Rockdale resident Pauline Thweatt, who painted under the name of C.P. Montague, died last year. Since about 1970, she had lived in a country home/studio near Jonah which she and her husband Bill Thweatt built with their own hands.
That home and studio have been converted to bed and breakfast facilities by the couple’s daughter, Sheron Scurlock. The home and studio were featured recently in an article in the Williamson County Sun, weekly community newspaper in Georgetown.
Saturday, Scurlock will host “ The Gathering on San Gabriel,” 101 Scurlock Farms Road, Georgetown, from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. at “Rocky Overlook,” as the home is known.
The event will include lunch, live music, and a live art and antique auction offering works by Texas artists including Montague (Thweatt), Dalhart Windburg and Chuck DeHaan. “The auction is free but please arrive by 12:45 p.m.,” Scurlock said.
C.P. Montague became renowned for her Hill Country landscapes, which were featured in galleries throughout Texas and beyond. Among her fans was President Lyndon Baines Johnson who owned several of her paintings.
Beyond a bed and breakfast, Scurlock envisions Rocky Overlook as an event venue. Her own son got married on the grounds, “with cows lined up at the fence to witness the ceremony,” she said.
“We have really tried to make both the studio and artist’s home at Rocky Overlook luxurious, quiet, romantic get-away homes,” Scurlock said. “Both have fully equipped kitchens, luxury bedding, towels and upscale furnishings. There are two patios, upper and lower with terraced beds separating them and a five-tiered cascading waterfall.”
She said guests can roam 111 acres and there is a half-mile frontage along the San Gabriel River where arrowheads are sometimes found. Bicycles are also available to guests to ride the property.
Long-time Rockdale residents will remember the late Bill Thweatt, who was employed with Industrial Generating Company. The couple purchased the land near Jonah in 1968, first built the art studio and lived in it while building the house which was completed in 1971.
C.P. Montague was the pseudonym of Texas artist Pauline Thweatt (1927-2010). She was a favorite of Lyndon B Johnson who owned several of her canvases. She was a painter of Texas Landscapes specializing in Bluebonnet and Fall images.
Since about 1970 she resided near Jonah, Texas working out of her home studio. That studio is now a bed and breakfast converted by her daughter, Sheron Scurlock. She was also a resident of Rockdale Texas.
Written and submitted by Jimmy Ralston
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