Easter snowfall After a few weeks of beautiful weather in Bridgeport, Nebraska, things turned ugly in a hurry. Mother Nature made a fool out of anyone who thought spring was here for good. Saturday night was no joke as the Great Plains was buried under six inches of heavy, wet snow. The flakes came down […]

The National Mall A few weeks ago I taught a colored pencil drawing class in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. My family tagged along so after the weekend-long workshop, we decided to extend our stay and visit the National Mall in Washington, DC. Early Monday morning, during a severe thunderstorm that produced heavy rain and terrible […]

The ranch It’s a smoky dusk in western Nebraska and as the spectral light begins to dissipate, the checklist of laborious chores comes to completion. Life on the ranch is hard as illustrated by battered grain bins and ragged hay bales but at least it’s not winter when the weather is brutal. The rhythm of […]

“Dragon Duel” Colored Pencil “Riddles my weapons. Answers my shield. Though you battle with wit, I’ll never yield.” Slowly the clamped teeth loosened. The watching dragons collectively sighed in disappointment. But the confrontation was not over. “My wit is quite sharp,” responded the leader, “as sharp as my claws and teeth. One wound means your […]

Yellow-Bellied Marmot Yellow-bellied marmots inhabit the high mountains of Colorado. Living in burrows dug underneath rocky outcrops, they seem to prefer to make their homes in the most spectacular of alpine settings. Also known as the rockchuck, they are the most gregarious animals on the tundra. Warm days are spent sunning, feeding, playing and napping. The […]

“The World is Yours” Colored Pencil It’s a mysterious scene. A man and a woman on a secluded, tropical beach. Turquoise blue water and a clear blue sky serve as a backdrop. Something dramatic is happening. The woman is desperately clutching his leg as if pleading “Please don’t go!” We see only the man’s back. […]

Twin Mule Deer Fawns One of the things I love about living in the mountains is observing the abundant wildlife. We routinely see elk and mule deer grazing peacefully around the townsite. The highlight of every spring is the same, mule deer doe that comes back to the yard and gives birth to twin fawns. […]

“Mount Evans Snowscape” Mixed Media It’s a cold and windy day in a spectacular basin known as Upper Bear Creek. Buried under a blanket of fresh snow, Mount Evans is a lofty landmark that imposes it’s iron will on the local weather patterns. Tethered to the foreground, sturdy evergreens are built to withstand the brutal […]

Animas Forks, Colorado Animas Forks is a rickety ghost town teetering high in the San Juan Mountains just east of Silverton, Colorado. It used to be a bustling community during the silver boom of the late 1800s but today only the miner’s spirit permeates the cool, mountain air. Pictured above is the best preserved building, […]

“Mountain Basin, Summer” Colored Pencil This unforgettable landscape is located in Colorado’s southwestern mountains where during the summer, winter snowmelt is washed through a deep basin. The tapestry of varied terrain is a fantasyland featuring willows, wildflowers and a dazzling waterfall. Soaring over the incredible scene, jagged peaks possess a pinkish hue in the afternoon’s […]

Unicorn Their place in the human imagination is similar to that of dragons, griffins and sea-serpents. The present-day unicorn is portrayed as a magical, white stallion with a long, spiraled alicorn that protrudes from its forehead. Drawings of horses with a single straight horn first appear on the cave walls of Lascaux, France. Later, Aristotle […]

“Wheat Field with Cypresses after van Gogh” Colored Pencil It’s a warm, sunny day in southern France. Boiling clouds drift across the turquoise sky and the indigo cypresses are windswept by the notorious mistral. The golden wheat field is ripe and ready for harvest. The picture is a magnificent expression of summer. It draws you […]

Common Sense Horsemanship “A horse is a thing of beauty… none will tire of looking at him as long as he displays himself in his splendor.” ~ Xenophon circa 360 BC Clinicians Bern and Kay Miller are traversing the panhandle of Nebraska sharing a common sense approach to horse care with all who will listen. […]

“Golden Hawk” Colored Pencil Perched on a high throne decorated with a wreath of autumn leaves, a golden hawk gazes over a vast empire. The royal color scheme of blue and gold is applied in patches of similar value, resulting in a posterized portrait. Highlights and shadows are downplayed as the abstract contours exaggerate the […]