Words can't describe how much I love Palo Duro Canyon. I believe in the old saying, "bloom where you're planted". I grew up in the canyon and never tire of painting it. I thought I had painted the Lighthouse formation from every angle, at every time of day, but I had never painted it wrapped in that final warm glow of light as the sun was setting.

My lawyer son Jacob gave me the idea for this painting. He said that in the Old West lawyers didn't usually have their own law books so there would be county law libraries where they would go to study law. It was my idea to put all the horses in front of the law library and all the lawyers in the saloon.

10x8 Hot off the easel. Mountain streams and ponds sometimes have to be crossed horseback. It's been my experience that these crossings are always cold. This painting will be available at the American Miniature Show at Settlers West Gallery in Tucson February 14.

One rides upon many gifts on western ranch land. It might be a covey of quail, a deer or other wildlife. A beautiful sunset like this one is certainly a gift. This painting will be available at the American Miniatures Show at Settlers West Gallery in Tucson February 14.

This driver has his six-up running hard and fast. Azre they behind schedule? Are they racing through enemy country? You decide.

This is the kind of painting I like. At first glance, it looks like a couple of cowboys about to share a cup of coffee, but then you notice the handcuffs, the badge and the hand on the gun. This may be a long night.

I've painted several country churches in winter, but this is the first Spanish Mission I've painted with snow on the ground. If you listen carefully, you might hear those bells.

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!