Howdy Print | Fort Worth TCU Purple | Betsy Crum
Crum Art
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The Purple Howdy — a TCU Gift from Fort Worth by Betsy Crum
Betsy letters her HOWDYs the way the old carnival sign painters worked a midway: big western letterforms with stars cut straight through the strokes, and rows of bulbs and spindles running across the top and bottom like the trim on a marquee that's been up since before you were born. This one is deep purple on a pale lavender ground, square as a bandbox, and if you're from Fort Worth you don't need the rest of this paragraph to know who it's for.
Crum Art is a Fort Worth family business, so understand — this isn't a howdy that put on purple to sell you something. It's the hometown one. Betsy has painted howdys for the other side of the family too — there's a late-afternoon one in burnt orange — but the purple version is the one that hangs closest to the house. There's no logo on it and no mascot in it. Just the friendliest word in Texas, dressed for a Saturday in Cowtown, and a little purple wall art goes a long way around here.
Where It'll Work in Your House
In a dorm, it'll do the whole job by itself — over the desk or the bed, it turns a cinder-block room into a Fort Worth room in one nail. Hang it next to Caya's Trinity River print and the wall is finished before the roommate unpacks.
In a grown-up house, it belongs where the greeting lands: the entry, the den, the wall behind the game-day snacks. It sits handsomely beside the purple Fort Worth bingo card if you want to double down. And come May, it wraps flat and travels well — worth a look alongside the rest of the Texas graduation gifts.
Questions
What are the stars and bulbs about? That's carnival lettering — the marquee-and-midway style where the sign itself is the show. The stars sit inside the letterforms and the bulb-and-spindle rows frame the word top and bottom, same as they would on an old theater front.
Will it read as team merch? No, and that's the charm. There's no logo, no mascot, no fine print — it's a hand-painted HOWDY that happens to wear purple. The people who get it will get it immediately. Everyone else just sees a great sign.
Is the background white? Pale lavender, actually — a quiet wash that keeps all that deep purple from going heavy. If you're building out a whole Cowtown wall, the Fort Worth art collection has plenty that plays nicely with it.
Who painted it? Betsy Crum, working in Texas. Original family artwork, printed to order — the rest of her paintings keep company in the Betsy Crum collection.
Buying for a frog fan is easy exactly once a year, so take the layup. And if purple isn't their color, the same greeting comes in crisp black and white — or line up the whole chorus from the howdy signs wall and let them argue about which one goes by the door.
Fine Art Prints Made in Fort Worth, Texas
Since 1996, Crum Art has created original art, paintings, and fine art prints in Fort Worth, showing and selling work at hundreds of art shows across Texas.
Crum Art brings a distinct Texas and Western point of view to specific, meaningful images: pop art color, cowboys, cowgirls, animals, kittens, vintage signs, bluebonnets, humor, grit, and Lone Star nostalgia.
These are not mass-produced prints or generic wall decor. They are artist-made pieces with a Texas point of view, created for homes that feel collected, lived-in, and full of meaning.
Each print is produced to gallery-quality fine art standards, made to order in our Fort Worth studio, carefully inspected, and hand-signed by the artist. Every piece passes through our hands before it becomes part of your home.
Print Details
- Archival pigment inks on 100% cotton rag paper
- Unframed and sized to fit standard frames
- Studio-made, artist-signed prints only available directly from Crum Art
Made in Texas.
Frequently Asked Questions
What sizes does this print come in?
Our fine art prints are available in multiple sizes including 8x10 unframed matted to 11x14, 11x14 unframed, 16x20, 18x24, and 24x36. Each size ships ready to frame, making it easy to find the right fit for your wall.
Is this print good for a western or ranch-style living room?
Absolutely. Crum Art prints work beautifully in western living rooms, ranch house walls, and collected interiors. The editorial quality and distinct Texas point of view make them strong anchor pieces for a rustic western or Lone Star-inspired home.
How is this print made and what materials are used?
Every Crum Art print is produced on 100% cotton rag paper using archival pigment inks — the same standard used in fine art galleries. Built to last without fading, and hand-signed by the artist before it leaves our Fort Worth studio.
Can this print be part of a gallery wall?
Yes — many Crum Art prints are part of series and are designed to group together as a statement western gallery wall, or hang individually as a standalone piece. Each image is sized to fit standard frames for easy styling.
Will this look like an original painting or a print?
Crum Art takes the scanning and photographing of original paintings seriously — we work to capture the texture of the canvas or paper the original was created on, so that texture shows through in the print. Combined with the cotton rag paper's own subtle surface and the hand-signing, many customers say they cannot tell if it's an original or a print. That's intentional. These are not flat digital reproductions — they are fine art prints that carry the soul of the original.
Made with love. Signed by hand. Shipped with care. Hung with joy.
Product FAQ
Why is this howdy purple?
Because it was painted in Fort Worth, and purple is the color this town runs on come Saturday. Betsy Crum has lettered the same hand-painted HOWDY in other colors, but the deep purple on pale lavender is the hometown version — made for the Fort Worth crowd, not the merchandise aisle. It's a greeting that picked a side.
Does this print work better in a dorm room or a house?
Both, honestly. In a dorm it carries the room by itself, and in a house it likes the spots where a greeting belongs: the entryway, the den, or the wall where everyone lands on game day. It holds up wherever the purple people gather.
Who is the Fort Worth purple howdy a good gift for?
TCU grads, freshmen headed to their first dorm, Fort Worth transplants who miss Cowtown, and anyone whose closet is at least half purple. It covers graduation, move-in day, and the December gift for the person who claims they already have everything — they don't have a purple howdy.
How do you build a Cowtown wall around the purple howdy?
Round out the greeting with the rest of the howdy set — the Game Day Howdy in burnt orange, the Front Porch Howdy, and the minimalist Black and White Howdy. For a fuller Cowtown wall, add the Fort Worth Bingo Card Purple or Caya Crum's Trinity River TCU print from the Fort Worth Art collection.