Free Ride - butterfly on mule nose with cowboy illustrative art book cover

20 X 20 Oil on stretched linen

Contact Artist for Availability

I HATE wasting time on the computer!!! I spent most of this morning working on my WEBSITE and updating and networking and cleaning up files and and and...I feel like I've done nothing. I think I need a manager...
Anyway, I worked a while on this painting and I still need to do a bit more - mainly darken the background (and probably "yellow" the hat). But since I'll do it with a glaze, it'll have to dry first. The title, of course, is a lie - there is no such thing as a free ride...which the world will find out eventually when the huge house of cards we have built comes crashing down.
The state of the world is beginning to worry me some more - I go through stages of confidence, followed by stages of extreme fear - and not for myself, but for those less capable. Today was a rainy, dark, worrisome day, so I spent part of it ordering seeds for next year's garden. One things is for sure, as long as I have dirt and water, I'll never go hungry, because, like my mother, I can stick a board in the ground and something will grow.
Psalm 34:10
The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

Big Texas Welcome - illustration art book cover oil painting

16 X 20 Oil on canvas $720
includes choice of frame
shipping and insurance extra...ask for quote

I posted this painting a couple weeks ago and my friend Rick suggested I darken the area behind the Indian, and I agreed. I also changed the background color and warmed it up a bit.
I have a number of 16 X 20 frames that it looks pretty good in, too. and I'm showing 2 of those here. PRICE INCLUDES FRAME!!!
If you want a REALLY nice Christmas gift for that western art lover of yours, this may be it. It will need to dry at least 4 more weeks before I can varnish it. And then a couple more days after that before I can ship. AND I accept layaway (1/3, 1/3, 1/3)
Don't let this one get away! It goes to the gallery next month.
1 Corinthians 15:52
in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

Buy this painting on PayPal
Price: $720 USD
Or, send me an email

Guard Duty - American Indian and paint horse illustration art book cover oil painting

12 X 16 Oil on stretched linen
SOLD to a California Collector

It's early Autumn, and this Indian is guarding a pass along the Paluxy River. Somehow he has acquired a Confederate soldier's jacket to warm him on those cool November mornings. His horse patiently waits.

This is the first linen canvas I have stretched in years and I forgot how wonderful (and expensive) they are to paint on. But I am definitely hooked and suppose I will have to give away all these blank cotton canvas I have stashed!

Jeremiah 17:3
My mountain in the land and your wealth and all your treasures I will give away as plunder, together with your high places, because of sin throughout your country.

How to Purchase: This painting is SOLD

Or, send me an email

The Party Begins Now - illustration cowboy oil painting book cover

24 X 30 Oil on Canvas

Contact Artist for Availability

This is 95% completed - as usual, when I take the photo, small issues become more noticeable. I still need to change the hat color, but it needs to dry more. The grass needs a little more detail and I also noticed that one clump of flowers is too "perfect". Also, I want to add some little purple asters and a bit more detail to background shrubbery - but not much.
I really had fun with this painting and I'm proud of the fact that I did not rush through it and followed my "game plan". I also thought a lot about the title and all it's levels.
If you notice, the horse in the foreground is wearing a rope halter - not a bridle. While painting this, I imagined the story behind it. These guys are trappers and they have been to the rendezvous and traded in their furs for supplies and things they need for the next year. Part of the trade was for whiskey (that's obvious). But the guy in the foreground also traded his well broke horse for a young, unbroke animal - a green horse that needs a lot of riding and experience before he becomes a solid mount. The trapper takes a risk in giving up his dependable horse for the young one, but if he recognizes a "diamond in the rough" and can successfully bring the young horse along in his training, then he has made a wise decision.
But in the meantime, the party begins now and the two friends can celebrate their good fortune!
I will take a better photo (with no glare) when it is truly finished, but you can get an idea now, and I can start on the next one. I suspect this one will go to the Dutch Art Gallery in time for Christmas, if I don't sell it myself first. CONTACT ME if you want it first!!!
Isaiah 40:8
The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.

New Neighbors! - illustration oil painting book cover art

12 X 16 Oil on canvas
Check with artist for availability

This painting is 90% completed, but since I haven't posted in a while I decided to put it up anyway. Tomorrow I am meeting with a man who wants me to design the cover of his novel and I don't know when I'll get back to finishing it. Keep watching this blog for the final version, and perhaps a new title. And if you want to reserve it for yourself, contact me.
The gallery show Saturday at Dutch Art in Dallas went very well. The couple that purchased my "signature painting" entitled "Fair Warning" entertained and flattered me with their attention. She had seen the painting in an ad I had placed in the Western Art Collector magazine and was thrilled to purchase it. In addition, Pam and Hans, the owners of the gallery want to continue to handle my work. They have a terrific location in Northeast Dallas, have been there many years and have a long list of loyal collectors and customers. I am really looking forward to a long, profitable association with them.

Ecclesiastes 7:21

Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you.