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I am so honored and pleased to announce that this painting of a Hereford bull will be included in the Mountain Oyster Club's 47th Annual Contemporary Western Art Show, "one of the oldest, largest and best respected western art shows in the country," according to the Club. The opening reception will take place on November 19, 2016. (For tickets, contact Alisha at (520) 623-3417)

The Club itself has a rich history - you can read an entertaining account here - www.mountainoysterclub.com/mo-club/club-history/

The painting's title, "Big Easy," comes from the fact that this beautiful bull is a normally easy-going, laid back creature who just goes with the flow. I got a wake-up to his Bull Personality however, as I was trying to help corral him one day. I was staying on the fringes of the action, when surprise! - we came face to face, and as I took instant mental notes of his horns, superior bull-dozer size and the very determined look in his eyes, I rather ungracefully turned chicken and let him by. It is much safer to paint bulls than to try to tell them what to do! I would like to paint him again sometime and see if I can recreate that determined look in his eye...

I've been working on this painting for awhile now, tweaking it off and on and finally calling it good. I had never had an inkling as to what I was going to name it until tonight when I posted it. I started with the Grey Bronc...ok, pretty boring for a name, and I'm trying to portray action and excitement here. So I stopped to think back what captured my imagination in the first place on this one. I'm often amazed at the abilities of the bronc and the rider as they battle for the upper hand and how well matched they are. This was one of those battles... yes, they are both "tough enough" to win.
 
Ah! "Tough Enough" - good name. Then it occured to me that all week long I have been noticing the storefront windows of our town painted with the saying "Are you tough enough to wear pink?" (to the rodeo this weekend at our county fair), promoting breast cancer awareness. It then occured to me that the cowboy in my painting is wearing a shade of pink...cool. And since I am a breast cancer survivor of over a year now it all seemed to fall into place...serendipitous, subliminal or something!