Futurity Sales Topping Weanling Filly

During the past week I was in Ft Worth, Texas at the NCHA Futurity photographing the Western Bloodstock Select Sales. The Highlight of the sale was during Alice Waltons' Rocking W Production Sale.


This red roan filly by the name of All Boon was sold by Alice Walton (Center) to Kenneth Jackson of Owensville, MO (Left) for the Western Bloodstock highest all time price of $750,000. All Boon is by Peptoboonsmall out of Boon San Kitty. The dams sire was High Brow Cat, the top producer of Futurity Finalists ever.

Chili Peppers and Wine

I was looking through my collections and found this image. This past summer I was experimenting with photographing vegetable and fruit as still life. This is the product of that work. The wine is one of my favorite, It is of high quality yet a very inexpensive and is made in Australia.

Cooking: Bison Steak

This past Sunday I treated myself to a Bison Steak.
It marinated the steak in an oil and basalmic vinegar solution with grated garlic and oil cured black olives. I cooked the steak to medium rare along with some mushrooms. I cooked a mixture of kohlrabi and Yellow Squash separately, starting with the kohlrabi and then adding the squash later.

Sketching in the Galleries: Hands

I will only have one sketching in the galleries post this month due to the NCHA Futurity Sales Photography next week and the Christmas schedule the following 2 weeks. This week our instructor led us on an exploration of hands. We were to do contour/gestural drawings exploring hands.




First we found a painting with and interesting use of hands in the composition. We were to draw this hand using line.



We were then to duplicate the pose in our own hand and draw this pose. This was a particularly valuable exercise since the hands are a particularly difficult part of the anatomy to draw to proper proportions and scale, second only to the face.

Cooking: Tomatillo/Green Chili Cream Sauce

Tonight I made a Tomatillo/Green Chili Goat Cream Sauce to put over some tamales. I cooked about 10 or so quartered tomatillos and diced green chili with 3 grated garlic pods until the water was reduced almost to about a 2 cups or so. I then added a few teaspoons of corn starch to thicken an cooked a little bit more. I then added 1/4 cup of condensed goat milk and stirred and a few more teaspoons of corn starch to thicken the sauce. When sauce was about ready I added two pats of butter and then served over pork tamales, rice and a split cooked yellow squash.

Ranch Rodeo

The Ranch Rodeo started with a concert by CCMA Award Winning Artist Clifton Jansky. Clifton presented a very dynamic concert from a pickup bed including his own famous Amarillo By Morning








Our countries colors were then presented along with invocation in a grand entry.














There were Roping Events



















Cattle
Doctoring














And even some branding.









You may find more of these photos at href=http://www.americascutter.com/rjranchrodeo_dec06/rjranchrodeo_dec06.html

Cooking: Split Pea Soup with Field Green Salad

One of the great things about Thanksgiving are all the leftovers. I took what was left of a Spiral Ham and added to water along with dried spit peas, Carrots, and peeled potatoes as well as some garlic, flavoring chilies and several bay leaves to create a great split pea soup. I served with a field green salad with cherry tomatoes, goat cheese, and Greek vinaigrette dressing.

More Thanksgiving Trip Photos

I found some of the rocks my parents collected on a trip to Alaska this summer. The barnacles which had bound themselves to the surfaces of these finger shaped rounded rocks were very intriguing.

A tree on the grounds of the Fredericksburg Tree had died and a local artist carved them into 3 eagles.

One of my favorite subjects to photograph are ornate gates. This one with steps leading into some mysterious and private area of the building really caught my eye.

As I was walking downtown I found this crack in a wall bordering of one of the Lutheran Churches.

This is a view of the back of one of the oldest Sunday Houses in Fredericksburg, Texas.

Thanksgiving Weekend

I am back from my Thanksgiving and am displaying a few highlight photos. Above is a photo of family and friends attending my parents Thanksgiving party in Fredericksburg, TX.


This is a salad that on the second day we added some black olives and goat cheese.



We had visits to the bird feeder by a cardinal and a smart alec squirrel showing his skill at seedjacking.





One evening I visited downtown Fredericksburg to photograph the Christmas lights of town and park.

Cooking: Penne/Red Sauce and Asparagus

Supper tonight was Penne covered with a sauce of crushed Italian tomatoes with sweet Italian sausage and black olives and topped with fresh Parmesan cheese. It was served with a side of steamed and buttered asparagus.

More Vizsla Puppies

Sunday we set the puppies out in an outdoor pen during kennel cleaning and to let them get some fresh air and sunshine. They are about 5 weeks old now.




The Whole Gang (10)




Pup walking in the yard



The cat snuck in to observe all the fun but was soon discovered. He played tiger a while, but having grown up with a litter of pups during his is kittenhood, is very gentle.

In the Kitchen: Chicken Tortilla Soup

I was in the grocery tonight looking for some Creole Red Beans and Rice when I remembered I had a chicken breast in the refridgerator that was defrosted and needed to be cooked tonight. I remembered that I had most of what I needed at home so bought some ice cream and left. When I got home I cut up the chicken breast and put it in a pot of water along with red potatoes, carrots, a diced kohlrabi, grated garlic, one teaspoon of salt and set it to boil. I also added two dried New Mexican Chili Pods. I made a mistake with that and got the soup a bit too hot. I solved that problem by taking a cup of the juice and added some chicken stock and water to replace what I took. After I brought the soup back to a boil I added yellow squash and green chili (mild) and cooked until squash was done. I then added a few corn tortillas to soften in the soup before serving. I served with corn tortillas and avocado.

Ginger kohlrabi Stir Fry

This is an all vegetable dish. Peel and coarsely grate one or more kohlrabi into a bowl. Coarsely grate a carrot into the same bowl. Finely grate some fresh ginger over vegetables. (optional: add some dry Chinese chilis to taste) Stir fry this vegetable mixture in whatever oil you prefer. I used olive oil and a little butter.

Vizsla Puppies

This past Weekend one of my ranch duties was feeding 10 Vizla puppies. This is half of the litter chowing down. They are about 4 weeks old in these photos.


After supper it was time for some roughhousing. Looks like one puppy is about to start something.

Cooking: Bison Chili

Tonights recipe was Bison Chili. I started by cooking a slice of bacon in my iron skillet. I then added and browned ground bison. After the Bison was about half cooked I added diced white onion. When the onion and ground meat were all cooked I added a can of crushed tomato, water, grated garlic, and a little bit of leftover yellow corn. I also added a little salt to taste. I cooked the chili until it had thickened. I then served over Texmati Rice with avocado slices.

Sketching in The Galleries

This month our instructor is an Art Professor from UNT who teaches figure drawing. This drawing is a gestural line drawing where I was working on maintaining scale, proportion and spatial relationships of this Giocametti Sculpture.

The Texas Cutting Futurity

I just spent the last week in Waco, Texas photographing the Texas Cutting Futurity. I am now back in Dallas looking toward 2-3 weeks of print sales and image management after the show. The Open Futurity Champion was Arc Cat Her Please. Boyd Rice scored a 224. Additonal photos may be found at www.texasfuturityinc.com

During a break I took a photo of myself with my camera at my station for photographing the event.

Sketchbook: Suspended Power

Tonight was my regular Sketching in the Galleries night. The assignment tonight was to find a painting in the American Section and draw part of the painting that stood alone as an independent composition. I chose the Turbine in Charles Scheelers' Suspended Power.

Corn and Green Chili Waffle Parmesian

This morning I made another "Non-Sweet" Waffle Breakfast. This time I used a mixture of green chili and corn I had prepared for cornbread and added it to a mult-grain pancake/waffle mix. I also added some diced Bernier black olives.
I topped this waffle with bacon, 2 eggs (yolks broken but not scrambled), and topped with parmesian cheese and baked in a 350 degree oven til egg was cooked.

Texas Cutting Futurity

Next week (Oct 30-Nov 5) I will be photographing the Texas Cutting Futurity at the H.O.T. Dodge Arena in Waco, Texas. The photo above is from last years event. Last year the days were 22 hours long. More days were added this year so hopefully we will be done at a reasonable hour each evening and trainers will have an opportunity to work their NCHA Futurity Horses on fresh cows. The Charcoal drawing below is drawn from the photo above.

Sketchbook: Cutting Horse I

Graphite on Bristol Board 9x12. This drawing was done under the influence of starbucks caffeine LOL. It was drawn from photo of horse being shown on cattle during the EE Ranches Production Sale.

In the Kitchen: Waffle Chili Relleno

First I prepared a Waffle with Bernier garlic black olive (3 diced)
into the mix.



I cooked and drained Applewood Bacon and blistered and peeled an Anaheim (or Hatch) green chili.


Then I topped the Olive Waffle with the Bacon and stripped chili.
I then poured the scrambled egg and then green enchilada sauce over the waffle.

Then I topped with a mexican blend of cheese.

And finally I baked in oven at 350 degrees until done.

Sketchbook: Afternoon at Starbucks

This afternoon while doing the laundry I went to my neighborhood Starbucks to draw. I had purchased a set of Pitts India Ink brush pens and wanted to give then a try. I started with some of my horsey images but those were not working for me. Instead I decided to sketch the interior of the Starbucks I was in. This is more of learning sketch than anything. It seemed to work so I decided to go ahead and post it.

Cooking: Oktoberfest

Cook some Westfalia Bratwurst in water and a slice of applewood bacon with red onion.

















Add some good quality german mustard.





Add the cooked and sliced german sausage to the bacon and red onion.













Add the best saurkraut you can buy to the skillet.

Finally open an authentic Oktoberfest beer.