Boy in the Bright Patterned Shirt

Original Color Pencil painting on Mi Tentes colored Pastel Paper.  Painting sells for $1200 unframed.

Your home is on the western prairie,

Your roof is the open sky,

Where you can be

As wild and free

As the eagle soaring high.

So cowboy raise your children

Where they'll be free to roam.

With your loving wife

Build a joyful life

In your western prairie home.

Refrain for a western song

Cowboy Home

by Darrell Arnold

I loved this young cowboy's shirt.  The opportunity to paint the intricate pattern was a challenge I took on gladly.  And when all was said and done, I believe I caught it right.  The horse doesn't look too bad itself either.  What do you think?

Down Time for the Deputy

Color Pencil painting on Mi Tentes colored Pastel Paper.  Original for sale for $1000.

Deputy Ranger Oath

1.  Be Alert

2.  Be Obedient

3.  Defend the Weak

4.  Never Desert a Friend

5.  Never Take Unfair Advantage

6.  Be Neat

7.  Be Truthful

8.  Uphold Justice

9.  Live Cleanly

10.  Have Faith in God

We always see the lawman ever on duty, but rarely taking a break.  This was my attempt to show the deputy taking a break after having spent hours watching a prisoner.  But as you can see, even then he is never really off duty.  He is always ready for what can come.

Mending Tack

The original is painted in Color Pencil on a 20"x28" sheet of coored Mi Tentes Pastel Paper.  The price for this painting is $1600.

Oh Lord, I've never lived where chrches grow.
I love creation better as it stood
That day you finished it so long ago
And looked upon Your work and called it good.
I know that others find You in the light
That's sifted down through tinted window panes,
And yet I seem to feel You near tonight
In this dim, guiet starlight on the plains.

I thank You, Lord, that I am placed so well,
That You have made my freedom so complete;
That I'm no slave of whistle, clock or bell,
Not weak-eyed prisoner of wall or street.
Just let me live my life as I've begun
And give me work that's open to the sky;
Make me a pardner of the wind and sun,
And I won't ask a life that's soft or high.

Let me be easy on the man that's down;
Let me be square and generous with all.
I'm careless sometimes, Lord, when I am in town,
But never let 'em say I'mm mean or small!
Make me as big and open as the plains,
As honest as the hawse between my knees,
Clean as the wind that blows behind the rains,
Free as the hawk that circles down on the breeze!

Forgive me, Lord, if sometimes I forget.
You know about the reasons that are hid.
You understand the things that gall and fret;
You know me better than my mother did.
Just keep an eye onn all that's done and said
And right me, sometimes, when I turn aside,
And guide me on the long, dim trail ahead
That stretches upward towards the Great Divide.

A Cowboy's Prayer                                                               

by Charles Badger Clark                                                                                             

This painting illustrates the story of the working cowhand.  Even when he has some downtime, he must be working.  Mending his tack is just one of the things he does to keep his hand busy.  But it is a quiet time, a time for reflection, a time for prayer.  I hope you feel that when you look at this painting.

Pinto Pony Series

Each of these paintings are done on white 22"X30" Strathmore drawing stock.  Each is painted in color pencil.  Each is for sale at $1000.

The beauty is vast beneath you
with colors that run deep.
The paint horse bows his head
respecting nature's dignity

You wonder if the Indians
took time to take it in
With all of nature at their feet.
If not, it was a sin.

Who could miss the mountain flowers
colored with fall gold.
Rock cliffs and the wind-burnt trees
have a story that needs told.

You wonder why this ol' horse's head
is bending, oh, so low.
Maybe it's spirit from years gone past,
a sense he truly knows.

Just imagine two hundred years ago
what this country was.
This virgin land teaching warriors
to stop and calmly pause.

You can see how all the spirits
came into the mative's lives.
Now it's you and a painted pony
standing on that mountain side.

Mountain Prayer

by Michael Whitaker

These four pieces are the beginning of a series of painting I want to accomplish as a tribute to the painted pony.  I believe they are such a magnificent animal with a great history.  Over the course of time I will paint ponies owned by friend and others will be of ones I see at stock shows and in corrals.  I hope you will like them as the series grows.

Carrying the Red, White, and Blue

The original painting is in color pencil on 20"X28" Mi Tentes Colored Pastel Paper.  It sells for $1250.

As we salute 'Old Glory"
In her stars and stripes so bold
She brings to us nostalgia
In memories we hold.

Uniting us in brotherhood
A glimpse of beauty bright
The emblem of our freedom
Of a nation crowned in light.

As the song "God Bless America"
Resounds throughtout the land
Steadfast we pledge allegiance
To our flag who flies most grand.

Our Flag

by MaLady

Every rodeo begins with the riders entering the area carrying the flag.  This was my attempt to convey that image and pride when the American flag rides by.  I hope you like it.

Saddle and Reins

The Original is 20"X28" painted on colored Mi Tentes Pastel Paper in Color Pencil.  The original painting sells for $1400.

The bawl of a steer to a cowboy's ear
Is music of sweetest strain;
And the yelping notes of the grey coyotes
To him are a glad refrain.

And his jolly songs speed him along
As he thinks of the little gal with golden hair
Who is waiting there
At the bars of the home corral.

For a kingly crown in the noisy town
His saddle he wouldn't change
No life so free as the life we see
'Way out on the Yaso range.

The Cowboy's Life

by Jack Thorp

This was my attempt to portray the idyllic cowboy, the way we all envision him to be.  When the painting was all done, I loved the way the shirt came out, with all the folds and wrinkles.  What do you think?

The Little Tyke

The original is done on Mi Tentes Pastel Paper in Color Pencils.  It is 18"X22."  The framed painting is approximately 23.5"X28" and sells for $1500.

Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys.
Don't let them pick guitars and drive in old pickup trucks.
Make 'em be doctors and lawyers and such.
Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys.
They'll never stay home, and they're always alone, even with someone they love.

Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys

sung by Willie Nelson

This young buckaroo was warming up his sister's quarter horse one morning at a Junior Quarter Horse competition in Fort Worth Texas.  His hat was too big but it didn't matter.  He was big enough to sit the saddle.

Morning Coffee

Original color pencil on Mi Tentes Pastel Paper, 18" X 24."  Framed painting (approx. 24" X 28") - $1600.

Trail Dust of a Maverick
He knew the West as only a few have known;
He knew the men;
He knew the horses too;
The swarthy, silent rider, all alone.
The cowman, and he knew what they could do.
The range to him was an open book;
The peaks and crags and hills - he knew them well;
He knew the secrets in each canyon brook,
And what the great plains whispered he could tell.

by Frederic Remington

I enjoy this piece so much because of the folds and creases in his well worm coat.  Just as his face shows the wear of years, so does the coat he wears.