Old Power Plant

This evening I visited the old power plant and fish hatchery at White Rock Lake in Dallas. I was taking photos on the east shore and looked over and the sun was pretty much blocking my view of the plant, so I got back in the car and went to the West Shore. When I was in the Arts Magnet during my last year in high school our teacher used to take us here for drawing. The view above is from the spillway. The bottom two photos are of the fish hatchery building.
The smoke stack is one of the most interesting features. This stack has been piercing the sky for about 3/4 of a century, unused.
This nearly one hundred year old power plant is now the home of a Dallas Water Utility Service Center; however, water has not been drawn from this lake since the drought of the 50's. When I last visited this plant in the mid 70's it was idle and the powerplant building was in


about the same shape as the Fish Hatchery building shown below. I walked around the entire building, photographing broken windows, bricked in doors and old brick walls and cement steps.

Sketchbook: Cornfield and Windmill

Tonight at Sketching in the Galleries we went to the Barrett Collection of Early Texas Art exhibit. Our assignment was to show the texture of our subjects in our sketches. I drew two paintings, but preferred this one of Otis Doziers' Cornfield and Windmill. This oil painting is of a cornfield and barn with windmill in the background. The scene was night or late evening but I translated it to night in this graphite and white pencil drawing on black paper.

Revisiting the Back Pasture

I returned to the lower pasture to report on how the geldings and colts enjoyed their summer at liberty. Squirt eagerly came to see what I was up to with my camera. Had I had a halter he would have not come close without a fight. Squirt looked very good for a 20yo gelding. His hooves looked better than they ever have, despite having not been trimmed in months. There is nothing like a wet summer and lots of tall grass. No need for hay.




Badger is Squirt's running buddy. He is a retired cutting horse. He ran playdays for a few years after his cutting career, but now enjoys pasture life. He is still runs when he sees a halter coming and does he best to get cooperation in the pasture to play "Get between me and the person with the halter" with other horses.



Elvis started the summer as the third horse, which is a tough in the equine buddy system. He is still a young gelding and this was his summer off. I am sure he will soon be in training for a career in Barrels and Poles.

Late in the summer a yearling colt was added to the pasture. He is still a year off from training and needed some socialization, so what better place to put him than a pasture with the geldings. Elvis now has a buddy.

Sketching in the Galleries: Calders' Three Bollards

Tonight we returned to the Nasher for our night of sketching. Our instructions were to find a sculpture in the outdoor sculpture garden and integrate out drawing with aspects of its environment. We started at 7:15 so our daylight time was limited and rapidly changed. After 15 minutes of sketching the lights came on and changed the color and depth of my subject. I brought out my orange and continued on. I finished by bringing in the color of the grass and the shadows cast by the sculpture. It was soon too dark to see my black paper so I moved to a brighter place to finish up. My media was hard pastel on black Ingress laid paper.

Eclipse Quarter Race Horse Sale

Today I photographed the Eclipse Fall Mixed Sale in Grand Prairie, TX. This sale is of Racing Bred Quarter Horses, conducted by Eclipse Sale Company which was established and managed by managed by Jay Helzer of JEH Stallion Station. The first part of the sale was mixed with mares, weanlings, and horses of racing age. The sale was mostly yearling colts and fillies. The prices were mostly under $40,000, but one bid reached $155,000 for Even Steve, A Mr Jess Perry x Lil Bit Rusty Yearling Colt offered by Tex Gal's Stable, Royce Rogers, Agent. This bid did not reach the reserve so was retained by owner.

Sketchbook: Asian Collection

This week our sketching class went to the Asian Galleries. Although this is not my favorite part of the museum, I decided to stick it out and try some different things. Our assignment was to draw objects as opposed to paintings. I chose a statue of the torso of a Hindu god earing a Dhot on tinted paper using dark graphite and white prismacolor pencil for the highlights. My goal was to describe the form and texture as best I could. I worked on both the intended forms and those resulting from many centuries of wear.



Next I moved into the main gallery and found this stature of a Hindu god in the lotus position. I had read the day before in American Artist Drawing Magazine about an Artist who draws in graphite on black paper so that the graphite becomes the light part of the drawing due to reflectivity. Seeing this black statue and having some black paper I decided to give it a try.

Sketchbook: Old Man and the Sale Horse

While waiting at the Museum for my Thursday night sketch class I did this drawing from a photo (see photo in August 29 post). This was one of my best photos from the Fasig-Tipton Summer Yearling Sale.

Sketchbook: Ring Men

After each sale I come home with many photos that I am eager to work with in my art projects. This drawing is from one of many photos I have taken of the ring men (bid spotters). Despite that fact that there was not any real action going on in this image, I was intrigued by the relative positions of the two ring men as they watched for their bidders. The ring man in the center has been the subject of many of my other photos and drawings. Last year I created a composite image for drawing and I have reposted it below in B&W.

In the Kitchen: Green Chili Potato Pancake, Sausage, and Egg

Early this week I had mashed potatoes, so with leftovers I decided it was time for my favorite Potato Pancakes. As usual I take the leftover mashed potatoes, add milk (goat), and multi-grain pancake mix until I have enough to make a good potato pancake batter. I then added a fresh fire roasted (hot) Hatch Green Chili (shredded) and about 4 Black Bernier Olives. I mixed the added ingredients into the batter and then made 3 large pancakes. I then cooked an egg over easy and placed it on a plate with a potato pancake and some pork sausage with Baby Bella Mushrooms sliced which I had cooking while mixing the batter. I then poured green chili enchilada sauce over all and served.

Fasig-Tipton Texas Summer Yearling Sale

This past Monday and Tuesday Fasig-Tipton and the Texas Thoroughbred Association held their annual Summer Yearling Sale at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas. While the first day was a little weak, the pace picked up on the second day with a number of sales over $70,000 and up to a record $330,000 for a Pleasant Tap/Tensie's Pro Yearling Colt (bottom photo).
I picked a few of my favorite images from the 2 days of sales and have posted them on the left. The first was taken of a owner or agent with his charge waiting to hand him over to the handler for the next up in sale. The second image is of two ring men watching their portion of the sales arena for bidders. As bids start coming in you will see them inticing the bidders to increase their offers as the price rises.
The third image shows a portion of hip number 397, with an added sticker advertising the respected yearlings parental record. Each yearling in the sale has a lot (hip) number sticker on their hips and a few have added an additional sticker. Additional Sale horses may be seen in my Sale Horse Gallery.



This Pleasant Tap/Tensies Pro Colt is a Lousiana Bred Yearling which sold for a Fasig-Tipton yearlng record of $330,000. Overall Results for this sale may be found on the www.fasig-tipton.com. Look for the Texas Sale Results for the 2007 Summer Yearling Sale.

Sale Day - How to fix a bad background

Today was the first day of a two day Fasig-Tipton Summer Yearling Sale in Grand Prairie, Texas. Photographing horses in the middle of a bright August afternoon is quite challenging. The stable areas at race tracks are not known for park-like landscaping. Weeds, straw bins, cars, unattractive barn sides, weeds, and people with horses can make a nice background difficult to find. The sun direction also dictates in which direction I must shoot. I look for my shadow and it points to where to set up the horse. After I return home I use photoshop to remove all unwanted background clutter. As you can see in the before (above) and after (bottom) photos, I have taken the folks that were leading their horse to the sale barn, out of the image so that I have a clean photo of this Trust N Luck Filly consigned by 4M Ranch.
I never change the conformation or appearance of the horse in any way.

Sketchbook: Turrell Skyspace

Thursday evening I departed from the assigned drawing project at the Nasher Sculpture Center and went to the The Turrell Skyspace Room where I spent the remaining opening time drawing the view of the sky space in the image to the left. This drawing was done on black archival construction paper with charcoal, white pencil, and oil pastel. After returning I studied this work a bit more and repeated but reversed the image in ultramarine acrylic (skyspace) and medium and soft pastel (ceiling and walls) on 15x20 watercolor paper.

Mid-Week Photo Trip

This past Wednesday I went on a teaching photo shoot to the Dallas Museum of Art and the Northwest Shores of White Rock Lake. Since my student is a Professional Artist, the goal of this shoot was only to teach a friend how to use her new digital camera. We first visited the Dallas Museum of art and worked on taking photos of some of the permanent collection. There are very strict rules concerning photography in the galleries, the most important of which are 1) Permanent Collection Only and 2) No Flash. There are gallery attendants that will answer any questions regarding which art work can be photographed. The biggest challenge is white balancing our images so they show the natural color with the available light source. I photographed many of my favorite art work and museum subjects and have posted them in this Gallery.


After a lunch break at Cafe on the Go at Central Market, we headed to the Northwest Shore of White Rock Lake where we worked on Outdoor subjects. While I worked in color, my student experimented with the B&W picture modes on her camera. We compared our images as we shot. The color images I captured at the lake are posted in this Gallery.

Sketchbook: Manet's Isabella Lemonnie

After several weeks I returned to sketching in the galleries. We were assigned to the European Galleries tonight. I chose a 1879 portrait by Manet. I first did a contour drawing and then did this drawing on brown paper with Ebony, graphite and white pencil.

In the Kitchen: Eggplant and Canadian Bacon Parmesan Pizza

Tonight I wanted to find a new way to fix eggplant. I decided to try pizza. After soaking my sliced eggplant in balsamic vinegar for several hours, I sauteed it in olive oil along with the Canadian bacon. In a separate pan I also sauteed some bell pepper. For Pizza sauce I used crushed tomatoes with Italian spices. I prepared a crust using an inexpensive dried mix. After preparing crust I put in oven at 450 til the crust was firm but not yet browned. I then added the sauce, eggplant, Canadian bacon, bell pepper, and fresh Parmesan cheese. I then returned the pizza to the oven until crust was browned and cheese melted.

Summer Cutting Spectacular, one last look.

This is the view I had from above the cutting working area. The Cowboys you see to the right are trainers watching the cows, before their clients ride later in the set. They help find the cows most likely to provide the best opportunity show the horse. The cows they choose must not be too soft that the horse cannot show his best cutting skills, and not so wild as to run past the horse back into the herd.

Summer Cutting Spectacular Finals

This afternoon after the Sales I went to the Summer Cutting Spectacular Derby Finals. I chose to shoot views that are not ordinarily taken.


Karen Michelle Anderson of Victoria, Texas, won the Non-Pro Derby on Cats Quixote Jack with a score of 221.5


Mark Michaels was in 3rd Place on Stylin Cat (owned by John McClaren of McGregor, TX) with a score of 220.5.


John Mitchell was the Reserve Open Derby Champion on Play Miss with a score of 223.0. Play Miss is owned by the Slate River Ranch.



The Open Derby Champion was Clint Allen on Wood I Never with a score of 225. Wood I Never is owned by Wrigley Ranches LLC.

Western Bloodstock Sale Day 2, and the Summer Cutting Open Semi-Finals.

The foals were quite entertaining during the Sale today at the John Justin Sales Ring. This foal was really enjoying the shavings like a child enjoys a rare snow. This foal was making it hard for the handler to show the mare. The Mares won the sale today, with Cat Tuesday topping the sale at $225,000. Mare/foal/breeding packages were the predominant high selling lots. Yearlings also sold in this sale. Only those with a Champion Sire coupled with a Dam with lots of earned money in the cutting pen and champion progeny brought a high price.


After the Sale I went over to the Will Rogers Coliseum to process my images and take in some of the Open Semi-Finals. I photographed part of set 4. During this set John Mitchell tied the high score of 220.5 riding Play Miss who is owned by Slate River Ranch. I was shooting with available light at f2.8 so the depth of field is limited. Since most of the images were taken of horses from the side, the depth of field issue was not as critical. The image below is Kobie Wood riding Bets Pretty Sue. For those unfamiliar with the Cutting Competition, there is a cow that the rider and horse are watching and following. Since I photographed this event from the side, I was unable to get the cow in most images.

Summer Spectacular Sale - Day 1

Today was the first day of the Summer Spectacular Sale in Fort Worth. There were 199 + 5 supplemental horses cataloged, and most of these went through the sale. The highest bid was $27,000 but I do not know if that horse sold or was bought back yet. Today many horses were shown as they sold.

NCHA Summer Cutting Spectacular

Today I went to Ft Worth to prepare for the Summer Spectacular Sales over the next 3 days. After setting up for the shoot tomorrow, I went to photograph some of the cutting in Will Rogers Coliseum and test out some distant shooting with my 550EX flash. I have posted a photos of Stacie McDavid showing Dual Donnie Rey.

Reining Horses

This past Tuesday I photographed Reining Horses at the Sweet Iron Ranch in conformation and action. This is a photocollage of one of the horses including slides from front, back, and side.

Barn Kitten

Tuesday morning I went on a ranch call photoshoot and while visiting with the clients I noticed this barn kitten sacked out in the center of a lariat. My camera was handy so I had to capture the image.

In the Kitchen: Slicing Mushrooms

I did not cook anything with mushrooms tonight. I was reviewing my food photo and found this image in my archives. It looked good so I decided to post it tonight.

Sketchbook: Ju Hick I

This is a drawing I did from a photograph of a horse taken the Bluebonnet Stakes this past May. I did this graphite drawing on Staedtler engineering paper so I would have a grid to work from.

Sketchbook: Sun Over Plain I

No Sketching class today, July 5, so I took some oil pastels and did this experimental piece on black card stock. I call this Sun over Plain I and it was inspired by similar works by Author Dove and Georgia O'Keefe.

Month End at the Ranch

April is already starting her life in the "Grass is Greener" school of thought. I guess it is time to mow again. I tried a number of times to convince her that the spaces between the runners was only to look through.









After rains flatten the arena floor I like to walk and look for float of ceramic shards, textures created by the rainwater, and unusual animal tracks. Click here to see a slide show, including an animal that created those tracks.







This has been a very unusual month in Texas as rains have persisted during a time when dry, hot weather is usually the rule. I have included a small gallery of storm clouds.

Sketchbook: Le Clarion

Our project in sketching in the galleries this week was to take a painting and do a interpretive and expressive drawing based on a painting in a gallery. I chose a painting entitled "Le Clarion" by Edouard Manet (1882). This drawing was done in colored pencil on a black archival card stock. Although this painting was of a French Bugler, It seemed that it could just have easily been of a US Civil War Confederate Bugler.