I was going to save this image for a blog closer to the 4th of July, but I wanted to put something besides a landscape up today. This is very Montana – and appropriate as it’s now Rodeo season. The brand on the horse is ours – TL. “Stars & Stripes” is 18 x 12 and for sale at the Beartooth Gallery in Red Lodge, MT.

I finished this painting recently. It’s called “Shade is Shade. Don’t Matter Where You Find It.” It is an oil, 24″ x 24″. I really enjoyed combining the images of the ladies’ feminine parasol, and the gruff, macho cowboy.

If you’ve spent any time at all on a ranch, you’ll know that ranch people are by necessity innovators and opportunists. Duct tape and baling twine can fix almost anything. All sorts of ‘parts” can be adapted to serve some completely different purpose. In this case on a hot summer day, the ladies’ parasol was quite the find. I had fun creating this very manly guy who obviously wasn’t at all embarrassed about using whatever he could to make his day a little more bearable!