My Newest Longhorn Sculpture

Leading the Way- Old Blue
11 x 5 x 8
bronze on granite
$1,200

     I just picked my newest bronze sculpture up from the foundry yesterday. It is a longhorn representing Old Blue, a longhorn steer belonging to Colonel Charles Goodnight. Old Blue wore a bell around his neck and lead Goodnight's herds 8 times north on the Chisholm Trail. He was something of a pet and lived to be 20 years old. When Old Blue died, Goodnight mounted the horns in his office.
     I will have this and many other sculptures at David Dike Fine Art where I will be doing a sculpture demonstration on April 21st, 2:00 to 8:00. The address is2613 Fairmount Street, Dallas, TX. 75201.
.

Busy, busy, busy.

Arab Spring
Work in Progress

  This has been one of my busiest and most productive springs. I have sculpted, painted, and participated in many  different shows and events. The most recent show was a few weeks ago at the Southwest Gallery in Dallas where I participated in the Outdoor Painters' Society's Southwest Salon and quick draw at White Rock Lake. It was a great event and a lot of fun seeing all my friends who participated.

Trail Over the Hill
9 x 12
oil on panel
$200

  This  coming weekend I have an art show at David Dike Fine Art in Dallas. I will be doing a sculpture demo from about  2:00 til 8:00. I will have most of my sculptures on display there. I will be working on a jaguar sculpture and possibly starting a new one.
   I just found out that I have been invited to participate in the Fort Worth Historical Society's Preservation Is The Art Of The City Show. I have several other shows that I have applied to, that I hope to hear from soon.

Horses at the Benbrook Stable.

  I am still working on my Arabian horse sculpture so I have been spending a lot of time at the stable near my house. There are two Arabians but most of the horses there are quarter horses, and I am really getting inspired to sculpt one of those after I finish  the Arabian. I have enjoyed the time I have spent there sculpting the horses and all the activity of the stable. The people there really love their horses.

Roses and iris in my backyard.

  In addition to all the painting and sculpting, I am really enjoying the great weather we have had and working in my yard. I have to say that this has been a great year for flowers and gardens in general. I have not had a chance to go fishing or camping yet this spring but it is on my list of things to do,and of course I'll bring my paints.
  And when it rains we have a great new Exhibit of 70+ Impressionist paintings at the Kimbel Art Museum. I have seen it several times already.

More roses in my backyard.

Western Art Collector

My editorial in Western Art Collector

Spring is one of my favorite times of the year and things as usual have been really busy. First, I just had an editorial in the April Issue of Western art Collector, not that this kept me busy but I was pretty excited about it. In the first weekend of this month I participated in the Texas Masters Show at the Insight Gallery In Fredericksburg. I just had a show open last Saturday at Artspace 111 in Fort Worth. I did a sculpture demo for a few hours and it went really well. April 7th I am part of a group show at the Southwest Gallery with the Outdoor Painters Society. April 21st I have a show at David Dike's in Dallas.

My work in progress of a horse.

There are several plain air outings coming up and as usual I am working on several sculptures. The one I plan on finishing next is the horse shown above. I started it last Friday . Right now I am just sort of blocking it in. It will be an Arabian when it is done. I have been going out to the Benbrook stable sketching and taking photographs. Now I need to take the sculpture out there and work on it in front of the horses to really capture the anatomy

Some of my roses.

 One of my favorite things to do this time of year is to work in my yard and as I work in it I always see things that I'd like to paint and never have the time. The rains have been perfect this year and my roses and iris are really blooming well. The wildflowers are also really great this year especially the bluebonnets and I haven't even been out to photograph them. I'm really going to have to get busy and take advantage of the great spring weather we have had. There is no telling how hot it will be this summer or even in the late spring.




One of my rose bushes that I got from my grandmother's garden.

Plants along my back fence.





Starting two new sculptures.

American Black Bear in Clay

  I'm loving my Christmas Vacation. Wednesday I met my friend Dan Spangler at the Fort Worth Zoo. He sketched  and I began a small sculpture of a mountain lion. It is not finished but I felt like I got a good start on it. Our weather has been great so the zoo was packed but the crowds were not a problem.  On Thursday I went to the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens and started a small  8 x 10 painting. Anne from the David Dike Gallery in Dallas met me there while I was working on it to pick up five of my sculptures for the gallery. They have done very well selling my bronzes. In fact David is placing an add in the 360 West magazine with one of my longhorn bronzes in it. After I was done painting I went to the Kimble Museum to see the Caravaggio exhibit one last time. The museum was packed too but unlike the zoo it was hard to enjoy because of the crowds.

Today was another beautiful day. I went back to the zoo and began a small sculpture of an American black bear. When I got there the bears were pacing the enclosure but naturally once I started working on it the bears lay down and went to sleep. Neither of these two sculptures is finished, they are sort of like sketches in clay, but I think I have two pieces that I can develop later into finished sculptures. I'll go back again this weekend and either work some more on these or start something new.

I wish all my friends a very Happy New Year full of lots of wonderful art experiences and opportunities.