This spread is of some of the "pickers" on the square in Garland, TX. Bluegrass players have been casually meeting and jamming in downtown Garland on Saturday nights for decades. I talked (or rather listened) to a gentleman this evening who remembers a big old tree, the square's buildings along Main Street and ranches spreading out in four directions in what is now Dallas suburbs. Players would meet under the tree as the sun was setting and start picking. The tree's gone now and the square has been bricked and paved. But these evenings of bluegrass still go along until the wee hours of the morning. An uncommon treasure!

These two are from a series of Prismacolor sketches I've been sending to my Step Grandmother. Parkinson's Disease has been taking its toll, so she gave me her treasured Hummel collection for safekeeping. In return, and so she isn't without them totally, I've drawn them onto note cards that I send with updates on our family happenings.

These are miscellaneous sketches done during a spring reenacment weekend at Beaumont Ranch in Grandview, TX

My wife, Becky, playing guitar in the living room.

 

The sketchbook pencil and ink selections on these pages are people, places and things I've seen during my daily commute through Dallas - and other travels. The paintings are small oil on panel studies worked up in the studio from just the sketches and memory.