December 16, 2008
Woke up to rain, a steady drizzle actually. Been wet all morning. Went to yoga class at eight and our teacher, Debbie Payne, said she was worried about crossing Cave Creek (she lives almost directly across from my house, across the creek, as it were). She told the class she avidly watches a website that constantly tracks rain and wash activity in our area. She just forwarded me the link and I'll share it later.

News From The Front Lines
Sheri just reported that John Baldridge from South Dakota called this morning to say. . .

"Great job BBB on Mickey Free, can’t wait for the book! Love the magazine, great historical publication."

Speaking of Mickey Free, if you missed the hilarious "What History Has Taught Me" interview featuring the Distinguished Professor, Paul Andrew Hutton, you can check it out on our website right here.

http://www.twmag.com/stories/paul_hutton_distinguished_professor/730/

Sold two paintings yesterday, both for Christmas presents. Meanwhile, another fan from Ohio called and wants something featuring Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday or O.K. Corral images. I told him most of those are long gone, but yesterday I went through my archives and found two pieces. The first appeared in Arizona Highways, and was actually painted in 1981 (the O.K. Corral fight happened in 1881), you can see the date in bottom right-hand corner:



Not a bad image considering I was still wet behind the ears. I also found a pre-scratchboard piece called "Virgil Goes Down" which is a pen and ink, showing Virgil Earp crunching to the ground with a leg wound (he has dropped Doc's cane, lower right) while Wyatt blazes away at Billy Clanton. This image appears in "The Illustrated Life & Times of Wyatt Earp" which has just gone into the fifth printing, making it the best selling book in my library:



I'm half-embarrassed to say I actually forgot to do my six sketches on Sunday, so I forced myself to do 12 last night. Got home late and didn't want to do them, but knuckled down and bailed in (to mix metaphors). Did them right on the kitchen table while Kathy did the taxes on her computer:





Finished at about 8:30. Hard work, but I must keep on striving if I'm ever to amount to anything. Gee I wonder what ol' Aldrich has to say about this?

"They fail, and they alone, who have not striven."
—Thomas Bailey Aldrich