One more update from my weekend: Every year since 1993, I’ve attended the Boot and Saddlemakers Roundup in Wichita Falls, Texas. An important part of the event is the boot making competition, where we all create our very best work and vie for first place in one of the many divisions. The Master Category is for experienced makers; there aren’t really any guidelines for that category other than you have to be willing to compete against makers who are brave enough to choose it.

A few years ago I began creating art pieces based on concepts that are difficult to convey with my medium of leather inlay, overlay, and stitching — things like light, shadow, movement, and reflection. I had an idea for conveying depth and in a moment of hubris I decided to do it in boot top form rather than a single art piece. My idea was to do a grove of aspen trees, hoping for the feeling of looking into a forest.

Typically I post process photos as I’m making the boots, but since these were for a competition I decided to not share them to social media at all. So now, all in one post, I will share process and completed photos of the boots that won the Master Category at the Boot and Saddlemakers Roundup. These boots are titled “Rocky Mountain High.”