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.
 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.
 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.
 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.
 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.
 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.
 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.
 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.
 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.
 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. 
 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.
 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.
 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.
 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.
 Today I went to the Big Asel Art Supply Garage Sale at The Contemporary on Swiss Ave. in Dallas. I met friend and we shopped for art supplies, tried out some products including some oil paint on paper, and got few free samples of painting board. I brought home a set of India Ink drawing brush pens which I hope to try out soon. On my way home I made a slight detour and stopped at Central Market where I found this nearly perfect eggplant. In our sketching class last night we practiced with using a blending tool (tortillions) on our drawings. I was going to post it but after I drew this eggplant I thought this was a better representation than what I drew in class.
 This past weekend I photographed the Texas Legends Production Sale at the Waggoner Ranch Whiteface Line Camp near Electra, Texas. During this sale I had the opportunity to photograph some great horses some of which had training in Reining. The photograph above is montage of 5 of the best stopping slides I photographed from different points of view. In a continuing effort to get the drawings right I have selected the top right slide and the sketch for this is in the image below. 
 Well here is a replacement drawing for that last one (already removed) that really did not work as I had thought it did. This is a charcoal of the two views of same reiner in a stopping slide.
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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
And even some branding.
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.
After supper it was time for some roughhousing. Looks like one puppy is about to start something.
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.
During a break I took a photo of myself with my camera at my station for photographing the event.
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.
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.
Then I topped with a mexican blend of cheese.
And finally I baked in oven at 350 degrees until done.
This past weekend I photographed the Texas Legends Production Sale at the Waggoner Ranch Whiteface Line Camp near Electra, Texas. During this sale I had the opportunity to photograph some great horses some of which had training in Reining. The photograph above is montage of 5 of the best stopping slides I photographed from different points of view. In a continuing effort to get the drawings right I have selected the top right slide and the sketch for this is in the image below. 
