Here's another painting in which I'll let y'all write the back-story. Is the cowboy that's hiding an outlaw, and the others are a posse? Or, is he a lawman and the others a part of an outlaw band? Either way, we know the situation is serious, or he wouldn't have gun in hand.

With Christmas long over, the Cowboy Santa has enough free time to enjoy a few of his hobbies. I'll bet he's working on a new Christmas song. This will be the last Cowboy Santa painting I post until November.

As many of you know, I drove a stagecoach for six years at our family's frontier town and guest ranch. Of course, I never got to go this fast. Daddy would have killed me. I really enjoyed my days as a Stagecoach driver, except the day I got run over by it...but that's another story!

This is a classic western scene. One we see quite often where we live, and it is always something I always enjoy seeing. That thunderstorm in the background is something always welcomed in our part of the country, too.

I tried to keep the background as simple as possible so the horse and rider and their reflections would be more powerful. The mist and fog worked perfectly for this effect.

This actually happened to me when I was breaking horses. The three year old sorrel in this painting pitched pretty good until she suddenly stopped and ran full-blast across my breaking corral and into the fence. We broke the top three boards and landed in a pile outside the corral. Fortunately, neither of us was hurt, but it was a board meeting I'll never forget!

Here's what it looked like yesterday in Canyon. I've been in this cowboy's situation more than once, and I can tell you he is bone cold--especially his feet. I'll bet he's headed in for a warm fire and a hot cup of coffee, and I'll bet his horse is ready for the barn.

Like most young cowboys, this one has a wonderful imagination. He has made the Finals. He's leading in the average, and is about to become champ. (My youngest son Joseph was my model for this one. He's now six foot three!) Time marches on.

As y'all know, I love to paint Palo Duro Canyon and horses and cowboys. This painting gave me the chance to do all three. This cowboy has given his mount a short breather before taking the steep trail out of the canyon.

Among the Comanche, wealth was determined by how many horses one possessed. This young brave is very happy about this successful pony raid.