This was originally going to be a long skinny vingete of running horses, but while I was still refining the sketch, Jeanne and I went to visit her uncle in Idaho. On the way, we stopped at Arches National Park where I did a plein-air painting and fell in love with the place. When we got home, I knew I had the perfect background for my running horses.

Normally, I don't care for paintings that feature the rear view of the horse or cowboy. This painting is an exception because I could not think of a better way to tell this story. This cowboy is thankful for the good year he's had, and I thought I needed to show his ranch and cattle in the background. This is an example of how the title helps tell the story. Had I given it a more generic name, like "End Of A Long Day" it would not have said what I wanted it to. Like the cowboy in this...

This young boy is with his two best friends, his grandfather and his dog. I was very close to my paternal grandfather, and although I'm in my seventies now, I vividly remember the many adventures we had together. This painting was done for my first book I did for Harvest House, "Everything I Know I Learned From My Grandpa".