November 20, 2008
Got in late last night from the Spirit of The West Alive Show. Had a great time down at the Bison Museum. Photos and highlights to follow.

One of the snow panoramas I have always wanted to paint, is this scene:



This is a sweeping look at the snow covered Hualapai Mountains from Coyote Pass, in Mohave County, Arizona. I have long wanted to do a painting of Captain Hardy parked on horseback on a ridge above the pass (left, foreground), overseeing a 24-mule team struggling up his crude road (Hardy created a toll road from Fort Mojave to Prescott in the 1870s). The freight wagons and the mules work their way up the pass with bullwhips cracking and men swearing. The tentative title might be "Bullwhips at Coyote Pass."

News From The Front Lines
"Huge fan, just finished reading Bad Men (3rd book of yours I've read). Love you using the Ditka quote, but he was a tight end, not a linebacker."
—RT Hernandez, Fontana,CA

"ps: H.N.F.L.(HAT NAZI FOR LIFE)"

This is funny to me because I went out into the production room and asked if Mike Ditka was a linebacker. Robert Ray assured me he was, and Lauren Googled it and confirmed he had in fact been a linebacker. Somehow, I have a hunch RT knows a bit more than Wikepedia.

"Remember that not always getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck."
—Tenzin Gyatso