Hill Country Strong
NEWEST WORK
12"x12" | Oil on Canvas | 2026
The first painting of 2026 and the beginning of a new collection honoring working ranch women.
This piece captures a moment every ranch woman knows: that upward glance at the sky, reading the weather, gauging the day ahead. It's the pause between chores, the breath before the work begins again. She's checking what's coming—rain, wind, heat—because the land and the livestock depend on her knowing.
Working ranch women, like countless hard-working women everywhere, rise before dawn and don't quit until the job is done. They're built for hard ground, long days, and the kind of strength that doesn't need proving. This collection is my tribute to them—to us.
Little Wrangler
NEWEST WORK
20" x 20"oil on canvas
I wanted Little Wrangler to capture the strength and determination of a young girl who’s already found her own seat in the saddle, even if her feet might not yet reach the stirrups.
This painting was born out of a fleeting moment at my hometown rodeo, watching a little girl, no older than seven, stand tall in her oversized hat and hand-me-down boots. She had the same watchful intensity as any of the cowboys in the arena, her small hands gripping the fence rails like she was ready to ride out and conquer the world.
What struck me that night, and what I’ve tried to preserve in this portrait, was how her spirit seemed to outgrow her frame. Her eyes said she’d already seen enough to know that grit and grace are woven together in the dust and the heat of a rodeo ring. In painting Little Wrangler, I wanted to honor that unmovable spark: the way children, even in the smallest towns, carry the future of our traditions, our stories, and our communities in the tilt of their chins and the fierce light in their gaze.
Winter's Gold
WORK IN PROGRESS
20" x 20"oil on canvas
Painting one of my story characters before I dive deeper into her draft. She's been through hell and back, carrying wounds she refuses to let anyone see. There's a fragility behind those eyes, but also a fierce determination to keep that vulnerability hidden. She's learned to armor herself, to trust no one.
But love has a way of finding us when we least expect it - in the form of an unlikely hero and through the innocent heart of a little girl who'll teach her that feeling again isn't weakness, it's courage.
I'm working to capture that moment of quiet contemplation - the weight she carries in the set of her jaw, the walls she's built showing in her downward gaze, but also that hint of something softer waiting beneath the surface. The warm light catching her face while shadows surround her feels right for where she is in her journey - standing between darkness and the possibility of light.
Still building up the underpainting in the lower portions, but her face is coming together exactly as I see her. This is what I love about painting my characters first. By the time I sit down to write her story, I'll know every line of her face, every shadow that crosses it.
