While I was researching the Comanche Nation for another painting, it occurred to me that I had never done a portrait of a Comanche brave as I had with so many cowboys. Usually, when I include a Native American in a painting, they're stealing horses or chasing a stagecoach. I enjoyed doing this noble portrait for a change.

As this cowboy is learning, you never know what might make your horse explode. In this one, it's a bolt of lightening, but when I was breaking horses, I once had one explode because of a styrofoam cup.

I've known several working cowboys that were loners. I was one of them. I was never happier than when I was alone on horseback in the middle of nowhere. That's when I felt closest to God.

Anyone who follows my work knows how I enjoy painting old adobe missions. I don't think the Padre is going to be very happy when he looks at his flowers. Jeanne and I know how he feels as the wildlife around our house eat our flowers on the front porch all the time.

On this Valentines Day, this cowboy has stopped to gather a bunch of wildflowers for his mom. I enjoy occasionally showing the softer side of cowboys. More than once, I gathered a hand full of wildflowers for my mother's table. The background for this painting is the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains just north of Lone Pine, California.

This is one of those paintings that make the viewer write the story line. Is this an outlaw? Maybe he's a lawman. Whatever, that Henry is in his hand for a reason, and he and his horse have heard something in the distance. You decide.

This young cowboy is not yet an expert roper. His horse is wishing he'd just get the job done. That's why it's better to have a little sister to practice on.

These Quarter Horses are part of the River Breaks Ranch remuda. I love to paint roans, and this painting gave me the chance to paint both a bay roan and a strawberry roan, a win-win.

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.