This design was created to commemorate the lifestyle of cowboys. There are five cowboy poems written within this design. One is in the sunset & sun. Three more are in the mountains. The fifth is the ground upon which the horse is galloping. The horse and rider are made up of over sixty individual words associated with the wild west.

My favorite aspect of this design is the way the image changes based on viewing proximity. From 12 feet away or further the design appears three-dimensional as if taken from a photograph of a cowboy riding across the range at sunset. However, as you get closer the vivid picturesque image transitions into a flat two-dimensional scene broken up by words in different colors. The intent of this was to create an iconic image of the wild west, a horse and rider crossing the wide open range with a brilliant sunset behind them. Yet, as you approach the artwork the cowboy and beauty of the scene changes to poetic depictions of the cowboy lifestyle. That way of life full of hard work, life lessons, respect, honor, and doing one’s best despite the natural elements and circumstance that seem bent on thwarting your efforts.

The horse and rider do not include a poem and are rather composed of individual words. The reason for this is because, though cowboys who came before have left their poetic legacy, the current cowboy has not yet composed his poem. His poem will be added to the landscape when he has moved on from mortality.

This design embodies the idea of a lifestyle made up of what has come before us, and what is yet to be added to the novels of the cowboy life.