I have continued to use old mountain bike tires for many of the elements in my animals. This canine sits on a base fabricated from a wonderful mountain bike tire that, upon close inspection, looks like a black alligators hide. He also has some white children s bike tires attached to his body.

Growing up on an old horse farm allowed me to be surrounded by a variety of animals. My father loved having them around. Some of the critters that I lived with included a variety of dogs and cats, a squirrel monkey, a red fox, a goat, snakes,lizards, rabbits, mice, squirrels and assorted wild animals that came and went.

One of my childhood friends was what might be called an animal whisperer. He could catch just about anything we came across and he seemed to have no fear when it came to grabbing some writhing creature.

Just finished another dog. I'm still recovering after my show in February at Jane Sauer's Gallery in Santa Fe. The show went very well, much better than I ever expected. Most of the work sold, I got two commissions, an article in SouthWest Art and several other publications.

Working so closely with Jane, and her amazing support of my work, (along with her terrific staff,) has made me realize that I need to stay focused on creating strong work. When we sat down to talk about the show and the future, we both realized that for at least the next year, my concentration needs to be on all her upcoming art fairs.

I have planned some new ideas for each fair, both in Santa Fe in July, and Chicago in November. After that show then I have to get ready for the solo show in February, 2011.

It all comes down to focus...