Texas Cowboy Boots - 1892
Pen & Ink on Antique Map
Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State, symbolizing its independent spirit, as well as its former status as an independent republic. Texas is the second-largest state in the Union by both area and population. In 1845, Texas joined the United States of America as the 28th state. Texas is known for its cowboy culture and boasts a rich cowboy heritage with cultural icons like the Texas Rangers. In 1930, “Friendship” was adopted as the Texas state motto. The motto was most likely chosen because the name, o Texas or Tejas, was the Spanish pronunciation of the local Indian tribe's word meaning friends.
Texas is the State of the “Cowboy Boot.” It was adopted as the Texas State footwear on June 15, 2007. The vaquero-style boot was brought to the Americas from Spain in the 1600s, originally inspired by the cowboy boot itself. The tall shaft, loose fit and lack of laces, were features that helped prevent a cowboy from being drug if bucked off a horse. Riding boots date back for centuries but the basic pattern of the cowboy boot, as we know it today, was created during the post-Civil War trail drives between 1866 and 1890.
I combine antique atlas maps, the art of pen & ink drawing and then using my version of stippling into my own creative perspectives. The background for this drawing of a Longhorn is on a Texas map, which was published in 1892 in a Cram's Atlas.