hitching post

 

On a recent trip home from Dallas, I detoured in Benjamin to drive by Wyman Meinzer's place.  For years, Wyman, also known as the State Photographer of Texas, lived in the original 1887 jail.  He later built a house and the jail became part of his compound.  As expected, Wyman's outdoor décor reflects his Western heritage and the landscape he calls the "Big Empty."

 

Benjamin, Texas

5.7.2016

texas art

 

If you live in Texas, chances are the you, or someone you know, has a skull hanging on a wall -- living room, den, barn or fence!  The barbed wire is just trimming.

danger

 

In the Oregon countryside, red barns with moss-covered wood shake roofs were not unusual.  What was unexpected was the longhorn cow skull hanging on the side of the barn -- shades of the Southwest!  The "danger" sign in the window and the skull are sufficient to deter trespassers.

 

Highway 202

Jewell, Oregon

10.19.2014

art

 

If you can't find original art to grace your wall in the multitude of galleries in Santa Fe, then go with the popular Southwest motif of cow skulls.  If you don't find a skull lying around on the ranch, then one may be purchased from a shop surrounding the Plaza.  Georgia O’Keeffe said of the sun-bleached bones and skulls she found in the desert. “To me they are as beautiful as anything I know...they are strangely more living than the animals walking around. The bones seem to cut sharply to the center of something that is keenly alive on the desert even tho’ it is vast and empty and untouchable—and knows no kindness with all its beauty.”

 

Santa Fe, New Mexico

3.9.2012