Texas Saddle - 1890
Pen & Ink on Antique Map
The western saddle and the cowboy who sits in it are an iconic part of American history. The western saddle doesn’t have a single inventor. It developed over time through the influence of various cultures. The saddle of today was said to have developed in Texas in the 1840s and 1850s. It was based on the saddles used by Spanish vaqueros in Mexico. The Western saddle's distinctive features include a high cantle, large swell, and a horn for attaching a rope. 
 
A cowboy’s saddle was indispensable; it was so crucial to his way of life and livelihood that the phrase “he’s sold his saddle”, came to mean that a man was finished as a cowboy.
 
Pen & Ink on Antique Map
I combine antique atlas maps, the art of pen & ink drawing then using my version of stippling into my own creative perspectives. The background for this drawing of a western saddle is a Texas map, which was published in 1890 in a Rand McNally General Atlas. It measures 10 X 13 inches and is framed with patinaed copper to a 16 X 20