When you're a kid and your horse is tall, mounting up is definitely a problem, especially in the middle of a pasture. Here, a brother helps his kid sister up onto her horse. I did this many times with my little sister. This painting will always hold a soft spot in my heart, It was my first painting to be chosen for a Western Horseman magazine cover. Hard to believe it was over thirty years ago.

eople often ask me which are my favorite paintings. This is certainly one. I think it has punch. I used the dark forest in the background as a launching pad for the white shirt and horse. If you want a painting to have impact-even from across the room, use a wide range of values.

This cowboy is on the rim, but he's looking for cattle in the canyon below. Sometimes this is a difficult job. After a cow and calf have been in the canyon all summer, they get pretty good at hiding. Been there, done that.

I get the same feeling on the rim of the grand canyon that I do when I'm camping out and staring at a star-filled sky. In the grand scheme of things, we're pretty insignificant. I watched these clouds rise and caress the canyon walls at sunset one day, and that inspired this painting.

One of my favorite things about this time of year is how horses loose their winter hair and become slicked off and shiny. This mare and foal are on a morning stroll after spring has sprung.

I normally don't paint cowboys this close up, but I wanted to show this one's worn, weathered face and that confidant look a lot of older cowboys have.

I don't do that many paintings that depict a specific historical event, but this one does. When Col. Charles Goodnight first entered the Palo Duro Canyon in October of 1876 to start his famed JA Ranch, he and two cowboys drove the buffalo they found on the canyon floor out so he could bring his cattle in. By the time they were done, they estimated that they had driven more than ten-thousand buffalo out, and the JA cattle soon took their place.

How could anyone describe Texas without mentioning longhorn cattle or bluebonnets? I couldn't.

This grandson and his dog have had a full day of adventures with Grandpa. Time for a little nap before headin' home.

This painting was done as a fund-raiser for the Alter Guild at our church. This mission was on the Old Tucson movie set. You may recognize it from movies such as El Dorado. Unfortunately, it no longer exists.