December 3, 2006
Still chilly in the mornings but the afternoons are warming up into the high sixties. Big, neighborhood party last night down at the Waltons. Many Delta airline pilots and horse gentry in attendance. Mike is both and the party was to honor his retirement from the airline. They had it outside beside their horse barn. A margarita machine, big fajita spread for dinner and Alaskan smoked salmon flown in for the party. Pioneer Pepper And the Sunset Pioneers performed and they put on a delightful show. Their leader, Marshal Pioneer Pepper, pointed me out in the crowd and told the story that when they were on tour in Austria their promoter had one request: bring him a True West magazine. Got home around ten. Nice time.

Check out the band at:

www.sunsetpioneers.com

Got up and filed artwork all day. Got myself confused (not hard) by all of the art categories. Here's my random count of art on hand, and the status of said artwork:

• Finished paintings published in True West (including Classic Gunfight images): 238

• Cover images (True West and other): 7

• Unfinished, or failed paintings: 69 (yes, I keep these and sometimes save one, see next category)

• Saved paintings out of failed pile: 12

• Patina, or background paintings, waiting for a foreground or subject matter: 56

• Black and white scratchboard images: 123

• Failed scratchboard images: 45

• Saved scratchboard images: 0 (Scratchboard is a very unforgiving medium)

I'll post some of the images tomorrow.

A writer and a photogrpaher from The Mesa Tribune came out last Thursday to interview me. The writer, Mike Branom, found my blog entry about Dwight Tindle's passing, and interviewed Carole Compton Glenn for the piece, who in turn, sent the writer some True West magazines and he became intrigued and wrote the following piece. Check it out at:

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=79981

Helpd Kathy put up her Christmas lights, then we went up town and bought a Christmas tree ($65 house account) and brought it home. Took Buddy Boze Hatkiller with us and he stuck his big, fat behind in my face all the way up there, and in Kathy's face all the way home. New Yorker's can be so rude.

"Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant."
—Homer