November 25, 2008
Finished the Jan-Feb cover painting this morning. Worked from about seven to 10:30. Half decent skeleton. Had great reference:



I really wanted the sky to be more "dangerous" since Jeff Milton is riding the border and it's a January issue which traditionally calls for a winter sky and this one is pretty fall looking, but I need to move on. I literally could do 12 more versions of this scene for another week or two.

And still may. Ha.

Bill Dunn, who knows a thing or two about snow, critiqued my hole in the ice study for the El Kid sequence and he commented that the sky was too blue and needed more overcast color, perhaps green (to match the frozen creek). He is correct:



Thanks Bill. I also added some distant buttes which helped anchor the piece. Now all I need to do is add the Kid wading across, leading his horse.

Jim B. commented on my recent, frequent mentions of Mexican food stating his concern that I'm slipping into my old, unhealthy habits. It's perhaps not as bad as it sounds. For example, just because I mentioned they served Mexican food at the Spirit of The West Awards show last week, doesn't mean I ate any (I didn't).

Meanwhile, about a month ago, at cardio rehab, we had a doctor come in and preach to us about the Neanderthal Diet. The premise being, we ate nuts and berries and meat and no bread or milk or cheese for 6 million years and it's only been in the last 5,000 years that we started processing grain and milking cows. The doc claims if we'd go back to the cave man diet we'd be healthier and live longer. It makes some sense but I absolutely love this New Yorker cartoon which brilliantly lampoons this position:



Deena's back from a two week trip to Belize and Guatemala. We're meeting her tonight at El Conquistador for Mexican food. I'm having soup.

"I was born in Indiana and reared on too much soft poetry."
—Victor Higgins, one of my fave artists of the Taos Seven