Hit the wall on the Cowboy Ground Zero cover yesterday afternoon. Dan Harshberger had attempted to make the whole thing fly, and it was a worthy effort but Robert Ray proclaimed it "too cartoony for True West" and my friend Bill Dunn said the whole thing was a little too "Star Wars" for his tastes. When I showed it to Kathy early this morning she agreed and added it is "too busy and crowded."
So I cancelled my trip to Austin tomorrow and went out to the studio and whipped out a straight-up Remington style rider which was my original concept:
Daily Whipout, "Straight-Up Remington Rider"
Brought it into the office and scanned it, but Ken Amorosano is still holding out for a better "two-gun rider". He thinks this one is too bland and doesn't pop like the other one.
Going to take one more run at it when I go home for lunch today.
"A new style of American equestrianism began to develop, called la bastarda, which lengthened the stirrups and adapted the saddle for ranching and herding in the rough and varied terrain of New Spain."
—Stuart Rosebrook, our senior editor, expounding on his theory as to where Cowboy Ground Zero is
