Photograph of unknown cowboy and cattle herd, 1902. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_drives_in_the_United_States#/media/File:Cowboy1902.jpg]
I ride an old paint
I lead an old Dan
I'm goin' to Montan'
For to throw the hoolihan
The Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site, photo courtesy of the Grant-Kohrs Ranch Foundation. [http://www.gkrf.org/]
Actually, the lyrics to this old cowboy song are partly true,
for tomorrow I'm going to Montana, but not to "throw the hoolihan" -
by the way, no one knows what that means. Nor will there be any horse riding,
at least that I know of. But I'll be gone for two weeks and hope to publish
updates from the road.
This is not my first rodeo, as the saying goes. I've illustrated often for the National Park Service.
The excuse for this trip is that the Grant-Kohrs National
Historic Site needs some illustrations and that's where I come in. I'll spend
three days touring the site with members of the exhibits company I'm
subcontracting to and NPS staff. Then I'll come home and create nine
illustrations for interpretive signs around the park. https://www.nps.gov/grko/index.htm
Ironically, I started my career as an illustrator with this book for Dover Publications back in 1985. It's still in print. http://store.doverpublications.com/0486250016.html
And here I must thank my dear wife who, when I told her I wasn't
going to bid on the project because I didn't have anything current in my
portfolio showing cowboys, said "Just send them something." So this
is what I sent, and I got the job. Thanks Sweetie.
Another image from my Cowboys of the Old West coloring book. As always, I find the real thing much more interesting than the legend. It's estimated that at least one in four of all cowboys in the classic trail driving days following the Civil War
were either African-American or Hispanic-American.
Oh, the most authentic rendition of "I Ride an Old
Paint," that I could find on YouTube was by Woodie Guthrie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcHYOlGbe7Y
