Here's the final rendition of Red Roper, which I have now titled Dally Up. This one took way too long to complete! But I'm happy with the outcome. Ropes are difficult for me. I just haven't come up with a way to paint them that I really feel comfortable with.

My next painting will be a very challenging commissioned piece. Hopefully the commissioner will allow me to put it on my blog, so you can see the calisthenics required for an endeavor like this. If it isn't approved for my blog, I will likely start another painting as well, so I can continue blogging.

Did a lot of work on the shirt and pretty much all over the painting, but now I have to wait for paint to dry so I can paint the rope and fringe. Maybe a couple of days for that.

Got a lot accomplished today in the time I had, but still have one or two more sessions to finish it up. Getting everything covered is always a mile stone. Still have a bit to do on the background. Won't get too fussy with it, but might put in a fence post or two, just to bring in some vertical lines. As much as I like the energy in his shirt, I feel it may be a little underdeveloped yet, so will likely do a little more on that. I need to paint in the rope and all that fringe, yet, so I've got a ways to go.

I think the new title will be "Dally Up."

Howdy, a lot has happened since my last blog post. More to me than the painting, though. Well, I was able to get a little work done on my cowboy's face and hat. I gave him a leg, even though he has a weird notch out of it. Don't know why I did that, but it will all be covered with fringe anyway.

Last Tuesday I went on what is called a gather around this territory. It's more commonly called a round-up. Not having ridden a horse in over 25 years, I was a little apprehensive, but non-the-less excited about it. I wanted to get some shots of a gather and the best way to do it is to take part.

Things didn't quite come back to me as I'd hoped and my past riding experience was mostly flat ground, no trees, rocks, or cows. This was not a simple herding cows down the road. It was through the trees in heavily forested mountains. Lava rock was littered all over the place. We crossed streams and logs, went down declines and up inclines as we pushed the cows along in a shallow draw.

I learned that when you tell a horse to stop and go at the same time, she thinks you mean go up and down. I did keep mounted even after learning that. I learned if your stirrups aren't short enough you can't keep your fanny from smacking the saddle when the horse trots. Embarrassing. I learned to dismount on the high ground side, and even then it's a long ways down when you're only 5' tall. I learned to watch for rattlers when the cows shy. I learned that a country mile is much farther than a straight mile; we did seven miles that day.

Even with all these things I had to learn, I still had the time of my life. I have decided to take some lessons, though so I don't have to learn so much in front of cowboys. They told me I was a trooper, but I just wonder how many jokes I am the butt of. Ouch, it's still sore.