Halloween at the Texas Cutting Futurity

I was looking for signs of Halloween at the Texas Cutting Futurity here in Waco, Texas. Other than customary bowls of candy I was hard pressed until I was leaving the arena after the Open Futurity class and encountered this horse with a Halloween head band. Things have been going well this week. The cows are brought into the arena at 8am and Cutting begins about 20 minutes later after the cattle are settled. Today we finished the Open Derby and Open Futurity classes, and tomorrow the 2nd Go of the Open 5/6 yr-old and the 7 yr and up for both Open and Non-Pro is scheduled. We should be through about mid-afternoon. After the cutting I process and prepare images of the day and then head to HEB (Best Grocery Store Chain in Texas) to hunt for supper. Tonight I found some Tarragon Chicken Salad which I put over Spring Green Mix and some Spinach and Orza Pasta Salad with Olives. It went great with a cup of Pinot Girigio.

Sketching in The Galleries:White Sculptural Forms

For the last class of the month, we were assigned to take multiple works and bring them into one composition. My second sketch of the evening was my most successful. I aligned my point of view so that Brancusi's Beginning of the World (egg form) was in the foreground and a sculpture by Barbara Hepworth was in the background. Since both were white, I elected to use my black paper and white nupastel to bring these forms together.

Texas Cutting Futurity

Next week I will be in Waco from Monday, Oct 29 - Sunday Nov 4 for the 2007 Texas Cutting Futurity at the H.O.T. Dodge Arena. I am not sure if I will have an opportunity to post any mid-week entries.

OKFQHR Cutting in Ardmore, OK

October 13 I photographed the Cutting at the OKFQHR Ardmore Show. This is a photo of Mindy Costello showing Tom Miller's Only One Cat

Foundation Quarter Horse Show

This past weekend I photographed the Oklahoma Foundation Quarter Horse Registry Show in Oklahoma. There were 2 full days of classes, the first day being dedicated to Reining and Cattle Classes, and the 2nd Day to Halter, Trail, and Riding Classes. This is a photo I took during one of the Youth Halter Classes. The photos I took will soon be posted at www.americascutter.com.

Sketching in the Galleries: Portraiture

Tonight our assignment was portraiture. We went to the 19th Century European Portraits and picked one to work on. I chose a oil painting of Louis-Charles Balzac, 1811 by Anne-Louis Grolet (1767-1824). This week I returned to white paper and used a 2H pencil for my underdrawing and then switched to my favorite Staedtler 8B to bring out the contrast and depth.

Sketching in The Galleries: Krumbau House

This week we were assigned to sketch from an exhibit of drawings of German Expressionists. I chose a pastel and watercolor entitled Front View of Building (Krumbau House) by Egon Schile, 1910. The location of this building was near Vienna, Austria. I chose this drawing because I liked the upward angle of view, as if I was looking up from sidewalk level. I drew my version on brown paper with graphite and white pencil.