In the Kitchen: Tuscan Soup

While I was editing my Horse Sale photos I had a pot of this Tuscan Soup on the Stove. This is not my recipe, but one sent to me by my Mom. It is very simple and easy to prepare. Brown 1 lb of Bulk Italian Sausage in your skillet. Add 4 cups of water and several cut up potatoes and cook potatoes until you can break them up. Add 1/2 bunch of Kale Greens cut into strips.
There are several varieties of Kale, but I used an Organic Narrow leaf California Kale.
Simmer this until the Kale is cooked, add more water if neccessary. You may mash some of the potatoes to thicken the soup. Finally add 1/2 cup or so of skim milk and cook to desired consistency. I am posting this recipe both the share and to have a reference next time I want to prepare it.

Laser Chase

A friend at my Cowboy Church brings this dog with him to Church. After the services he entertains everyone (especially the kids) by moving a laser pointer around on the arena sand. His dog loves to chase this laser light and will pounce on it as long as it does not fall on anyones feet. He will only attack the light when it is on the ground. Although it is difficult to see, the laser is visible in both images. On the left photo look at the left paw of the dog. On the bottom photo, follow his nose to the bottom left of the photo. although the dog is mostly on target he has yet to succeed in catching the light.

Western Bloodstock Futurity Sales

The 2008 Futurity Sales are over and the official Results are now posted at www.westernbloodstock.com.
The High seller of the sale was Kit Dual, for $250,000 (top photo). The highest selling broodmare was Playin Tag, for $220,000 (bottom photo. I photographed the sales starting with the seasoned cutting horses. Further details and analysis of the sales may be read on www.sallyharrison.com.

Sketchbook: Fantastic Cat

While I was doing my laundry tonight I sat down and sketched this image of Fantastic Cat in the Texas Cutting Futurity from an 8x10 print I had. Hopefully I can find more time in the future to do more cutting horse drawings.

Futurity Sales start tomorrow

The Western Bloodstock Futurity Sales begin tomorrow with the Mid-Futurity Sale. I will be photographing the sales beginning with the Seasoned Cutting Horse Sale next Tuesday, Dec 9, and will be there through the Select Breeders Sales and NCHA Futurity Sale of 2-Year-Olds by Select Sires ending on Dec 14. The Photo on the top right is the 2007 Sale Topper ($575,000), Absolutely Stunning with Consignors and Buyer, and Trainer.

Thanksgiving in Fredericksburg - 2008

These are several highlight photos of my 4 days in Fredericksburg, Texas for Thanksgiving. The top photo is the annual group photo of the Tnanksgiving party at my parents home. We have been taking a group photo for as long as I can remember. This is a composite of about 5 images I took, in order to the get the best image of each person. My cousin Bill continues to hide in all the images so that I can't get a full view of him.
The photo below is take at Cross Moutain, a famous local landmark. I took this image as I crested the hill and saw the cross. The image to the left is one of two prickly pear cacti, welcoming visitors to my parents home either side of the front walk. The image below this paragraph shows the mosaic of fall leaves found all over Fredericksburg. The bottom photo was taken my last night during a walk. Dad spotted this chair sitting in a lighted enclave at the new Pioneer Museum bulding.

Texas Cutting Futurity: Big Jewels Shine

This photo of Callie Oatman showing Big Jewels Shine shows another printing option I offer. I can do this zoom blur (starburst) effect to most any image. Once you purchase this image effect you can order any number of printing options, from large Gallery wraps down to greeting cards.

Texas Cutting Futurity: Custom editing and Gallery Wrap

Through the miracle of photoshop, I am able to remove undesirable background elements, such as wall shadows, turnback riders, etc.. This requires considerable work and time, but the end result is worth the effort. The top image is the orginal photo including a turnback rider in the field of view an the shadow cast by my strobe.



The image below shows the image after editing and image enhancement. The Box outlines the cropping either for a final 11x20 print, OR a Gallery Wrap Canvas Print. The image area outside of the lines is on the top, bottom, and edges of the gallery wrap. The final product of this particular project is an 11x20 print on canvas that is 1 1/2" deep. There is black backing and hardward to make the final print ready to hang on your wall.




If you are interested in artwork such as this from any of the images taken during one of the shows I have photographed, please send me an email with your project idea.

Texas Cutting Futurity - All Done

Curly Tully shows Stylish Curly for Katherine Turner
Steve Oehlhof shows Peppy Plays for Cash for Center Ranch

The Texas Cutting Futurity is now over and all of the images are posted at
AmericasCutter.com. A new part of the show this year were NCHA Classes on Thursday - Saturday evening. I posted quite a few exciting shots in the Open, Non-Pro, and 3000NH classes, including some horses not shown in the limited age events.

Texas Cutting Futurity - Fantastic Cat

This was one of my favorite images for Friday. Clay Johnson is riding Jim and Gay Karhan's Fantastic Cat in the evening NCHA $10,000 Novice Horse class. This image show a tremendous power in movement as the stallion moves over to catch up with a cow just out of the field of our view.

Texas Cutting Futurity: Open Futurity Champion

Friday, Oct 31, was the last day of the open portion of the Texas Cutting Futurity with the Open Futurity Finals.
The champion was Play Red Lil Sangria, ridden by J.B. McLamb to a score of 220.5.
Play Red Sangria is owned by John and Ann Huddle of Mt Vernon, Ohio.

Texas Cutting Futurity - Open Classic and Derby

Casey Dailey won the Texas Cutting Futurity Open Classic riding Scootin Boon with a score of 221. He also returned in the NCHA Open Class the same evening to win again, this time with a score of 151 (2 Judges). Scootin Boon is owned by S&S Farms.

Matt Budge was both the Champion and Reserve in the Open Derby. He won the Derby on Chulas Merada owend by Jackpot Ranch with a score of 224 and the reserve on Stylish Lizzy owned by Paul and Jackie Fehrenbach, with a score of 219. The photo on the right is of Matt riding Chulas Merada in the 2nd Go.

Texas Cutting Futurity: Stopping the Cow

Today at the Texas Cutting Futurity the final go's of the Open Classic and Derby Classes were held. I took photos of this go from the same point of view as I do the sales, from the side. The photo on the left is of Red Like That with
Rodie Whitman riding, preventing a cow from returning to the herd.
The photo on the right shows Casey Green and Here to Reymember also blocking a cow from the herd.

Sketching In The Galleries: Ancient Halloween Mask?

This week we were supposed to go to the Nasher Sculpture Center, but that did not work out so we went to the Early Americas Section. I chose this Olmec Mask from a the Veracruz Mexico 900-500 BC. In this drawing I used graphite and White Watercolor Pencil on Black Paper. I first drew the middle ground values in graphite pencil and came back with the white with the highlights and texture. I finished with a very soft dark graphite/clay pencil adding dark areas and additional textural features.

Cat at Work

As a followup to my post last Tuesday, I took another image of Peanut as he was patrolling the feed sack pallet in the hay and feed barn. I posted this image on your left as if it was part of a feature photo on the cover of Working Cat, a fictional magazine.

Buck-A-Roo Rodeo

This past Saturday I photographed several events at one of the newest events at Cowboy Church Arenas: The Buck-A-Roo Rodeo. This event is for Children up to the age of 14 and includes the Chicken Catching event shown above. Other events include, but are not limited to Goat Milking, Goat UnDecorating, Stick Horse Barrel Racing, Running Pole Bending. I have additional images posted in this Gallery.

Officer Peanut: Resident Mouse Patrol

Peanut is our chief of the mouse patrol. He covers both the Stable and Hay Barn beats and has been see batting around suspects in both. He really has his work cut out for him, but he is growing into the job. I once saw a suspect escape from his grip but he dashed over to the stable door and capture it before it could escape. His wages are well earned.

Horse Sales: Weanling package deals

This past weekend I attended an hour of the Fall Sales at the S&S Arena in Terrell, TX. One of the highlights for me was when they drove in 4-7 weanlings and offered winning bid gets choice or all. The best was chosen and then the bidding continued for the rest. Eventually one bidder took all the remaining weanlings for his bid per each weanling left. You may see a selection of images I took during these weanling sales in this Gallery.

Sketching In the Galleries: That Gentleman

This week in sketching in the galleries I chose to sketch part of one of my favorite paintings. This is the head of That Gentleman, an egg tempera painted by Andrew Wyeth in 1960. This painting holds a little more significance since I visited with his grandson at the Wyeth Hurd Gallery in Santa Fe New Mexico this summer (July, 2008).

In The Kitchen: Salmon Chili Biscuits

Wednesday night I was searching my cabinets for something to fix for supper and found a can of Salmon. I thought Salmon Cakes would be nice, but wait, I had no bread crumbs. I then remembered I and a package of biscuit mix. I first sauteed some thinly sliced Shallots and fresh Hatch Red Chili. I combined with salmon with a can of fire roasted chilis, some sliced black olives, and the Shallot and red chili mixture. I then added enough Mayonaise to well moisten the mixture. I then slowly added the biscuit mix, mixing with a large spoon until I had a dough mixture. I then made 4 patties and put in iron skillet sprayed with Grill Pam so biscuits would not stick. I baked in 400 degree preheated oven for about 18min.

Cerro Pedernal

This photo is by my Dad, Jack Arnold taken from Kitchen Mesa behind Ghost Ranch in Northern New Mexico. This is perhaps the most painted mountain in New Mexico. Georgia O'Keefe had the record, and claimed that God gave her that mountain since she painted it so much. I oversaturated the colors in this image so you can see the contrast between the red rock and the blue mountain and Abiquiu Reservoir. I spent many summers in my youth at Ghost ranch, and have even climbed Cerro Pederanal a few times.

Action Photography from floor level

This past Saturday night I photographed the Barrel Racing at the Rafter J Cowboy Church First Saturday Playday. In this arena, unless I am using my strobes, I capture images in B&W since the light in the arena is so red. I also use a red filter effect so that the light red areas show up particularly light. This time I found a point of view where I was able to shoot about 6 inches above arena level. Additional images from this playday may be found in this Gallery.

In the Kitchen: Italian Sausage Pizza

This pizza turned out perfect. The crust was from a powered mix and spread over a iron griddle coated with Pam Grill spray. The topping consisted of Central Market Bulk Italian Sausage browned, a sauce made from canned crushed tomatoes and Italian Herbs, a Blend of Italian Cheese, and sauteed Hatch Red Chili and Sweet Red Onion Slices. Pizza was baked on a Cast Iron Skillet for 15 min at 425.

High School Rodeo

This past Saturday I took photos at the Lone Star High School Rodeo near Terrell, Texas. I was there primarily to photograph my niece in her Junior events, but I took photos of some of the older high school kids as well. This first photo was taken during the Bareback Bronc Riding. I took a number but this was the one that stood out from the rest. The arena is large and the lighting poor. My best opportunity was when the bronc took the rider close to the far side of the arena where I was set up.
This second photo was taken during the Senior Goat Tying as one of the high school girls was dismounting her horse as it loped to the goat tying area.

Bison and Red Chili Pizza

Tonight I decided to create a Ground Bison an Red Chili Pizza. I made the sauce from a can of crushed tomatoes adding minced garlic and Itialian spices and simmered it on the stove while I prepared the crust from a packaged product. I also cooked the ground bison and roasted a red hatch chili in the broiler until the skin blackened. I the peeled and tore the roasted red chili into strips. After crust had rested I flattened it out on a pizza pan (sprayed with Pam for the Grill). I added the pizza sauce, cheese, ground bison, red chili strips, and 3 black olives diced. I baked the pizza in a 450 degree oven for 15 minutes.
It was spicy and good!

Art Walk: New DMA Painting and a Walk through the Sculpture Garden

This is one of the most recent acquisitions by the Dallas Museum of art and one of my favorite. I became familiar with Marsden Hartley in my studies of Artists and Photographers working in Northern New Mexico in the early 20th Century.


Through the DMA Sculpture garden there a several waterfalls. I took this closeup showing the patterns created by the water falling.

There are many walls and water channels through the garden.















Two Part Bench: A Pair, 1988
Porto-beige limestone.

Scott Burton, American 1939-89


This is part of the Rachofsky Collection.
and is one of my favorites. I have sketched this in charcoal.




Sea Form (Atlantic) 1964
Bronze

Barbara Hepworth, Great Britain 1903-75

Another one of my favorites. I have also sketched this bronze in Charcoal.












I walked behind the Seaform and looked through one of the holes to see what it framed and found this.

Sketching in the Galleries: Eve in the Garden

Tonight we had our 3rd Thursday sketching at at the Nasher Scupture Center. Since there was a special private event tonight, we went into the scupture garden where we were to pick a landscape. Since we were outdoors I had the option of using pastels, which I planned for. I brought a box of NuPastel and a few sheets of Art Spectrum Color Fix (tinted) paper. Since we were sketching in teh last hour of the day, I chose a paper with a dark tint so I could sketch for night. I chose a landscape with Rodin's "Eve" in the foreground and Richard Serras' "My Curves are not Mad" in the backgroud. I spent the first part of the evening working on the basic sketch since soon it would be difficult to see the the details of my subject. I then began with the pastels blocking in the scene. As the light faded the sculpture and tree lighting came on completely changing the scene. I used my yellow and light blue pastel to bring out the highlights. When I had nearly finished I noticed the Richard Serra's "Curves" had lots of shadow from the trees. I came back and added the light spilling on the Curves and added the shadows of the trees.

King of the Ladder

This past Sunday evening I was given the task of replacing some burned out florescent tubes in the Vet Clinic Stock area. I brought over the ladder and set it up, climbed up and removed one of the tubes so I could determine which kind I was replacing. When I returned from the storage area with the new tube, I found that the kittens had already discovered the new climbing challenge. This Tabby made it almost to the top before turning around and deciding to find the quickest way down.