Texas Brags with Original Mailing Envelope!

Whimsical Map of North America, from a Texan's perspective.

Places and names throughout the states are often incorrect or fictitious, satirizing a parochial attitude towards other parts of the country. For example, the Northeastern states are humorously shown as "unannexed territory," and the western states as "ceded territory."

Decorative details of native flora and fauna, people, sites, etc. are throughout the map and borders. They include a tornado (called "interpanhandle wheat harverster"), a rattlesnake ("orneriest rattlesnakes"), and a rodeo cowboy ("the man that couldn't be throw'd and the horse that couldn't be rode."). The Alamo and San Jacinto Monument are among the border illustrations.

Mark Storm was a painter and sculptor specializing in western genre scenes. He was born in Valdez, Alaska, the son of a mining engineer, and grew up in a series of towns in Alaska, Oregon, California and one year in Mexico, before ending up in Texas. He attended the University of Texas from 1930-34. From 1946, he lived in Houston. Storm began his career as a commercial artist and illustrator, and began also making Western themed fine art in the 1940s.

Storm became a member of the Texas Cowboy Artists Association in 1973, served as its president in 1975-76, and participated regularly in their exhibitions. He was named Texas Cowboy Artist of the Year in 1980 and 1981 and a contributor to the book XIT, T he American Cowboy: An Exploration in Art and Words by Caleb Pirtle (1975). Storm completed commissions for oil paintings and a life-size portrait sculpture for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. His works are also in the Museum of Natural Science, Houston; various corporate collections, and the Medford Collection of Western Art at the City Hall of Lufkin, Texas.