Back porch art school

"Into the Sunset," 8 x 10, 140 lb. d'Arches cold press paper--today's art lesson

So much to learn, so little I know, so little time.
Saturday morning, back porch art school, and today's lesson.
After viewing the magnificent art at the 46th Prix de West show yesterday at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, I left inspired, uplifted, confounded, thankful, and more than a little humbled.

Back porch art school

I can't fathom the techniques of some of the watercolors I saw, much less the talent. And the same goes for the oils, drawings and sculptures.
So it's back to the back porch this morning to read more of Edgar A. Whitney, trying to understand, to grasp  and eventually apply what this great icon and teacher had to say.
And then it's time to try a painting, today's lesson. Not bad, but so far to go. And don't miss the Prix de West...I'll be going back to study even more.

Turning the pages of the first half of 2018

What I've read so far this year:

• Wooden Lions, by Karla K. Morton, former Texas poet laureate, my annual poetry book from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum's Western Heritage Awards. Every poem features an animal, from cats to copperheads.
• The Paper Trail by Alexander Monro, about the fascinating history of a revolutionary invention that has changed the world, paper. We think the western world is civilized. The Chinese have been centuries ahead of us in so many ways, and paper was part of it.
• Enchantment and Exploitation-The Life and Hard Times of a New Mexico Mountain Range, by William DeBuys. Not a new book, but I finished it this year about my beloved Sangre de Cristos in New Mexico.
• Cave of Bones, by Anne Hillerman. My one fiction so far this year, a mystery set in New Mexico by the daughter of a favorite Tony Hillerman.
• Under the Table, A Dorothy Parker Cocktail Guide, by Kevin C. Fitzpatrick. Cocktails from A to Z, from the Roaring 20s and beyond, garnished with tales of a dazzling writer and woman.
• Complete Guide to Watercolor Painting, Edgar A. Whitney. Part of my DIY art school by the late master.
• Falling Upward, by Fr. Richard Rohr. Reread this spiritual guide for the second half of life.
• The Best Cook in the World, by Rick Bragg.

Next: Atlas of the Lost World, Travels in Ice Age America, by Craig Childs.

In the news recently, one fourth of Americans haven't read a book in a year. How shallow and provincial in thought and character.