The boots in the book (“Art of the Boot” by Tyler Beard) image were made by Lucchese; Gene Autry had a pair although the boots in the image aren’t his. I have always particularly disliked them, so one day I thought, “I wonder if I’d like them better if I used them as inspiration for a shoe?!?”

The answer is no. I still don’t like them. However, I used perfectly good alligator on these boots, and alligator costs just as much on boots I don’t like and doing all the work takes just as much time on boots I don’t like, so I will finish them. I supposed every artist occasionally creates something that doesn’t turn out as they imagined. I do really like that longhorn on the toe though!

Oh, and the shoelaces are all kinds of wrong. I can’t unlace them until I remove the last, but I will be using different shoelaces as soon as possible.