The inspiration for working with Longhorns came from my love of cattle and history. I started with simple Longhorn mounts. As I got better I quickly expanded to furniture. I was able to build some wonderful pieces, but something always seemed to be missing. The more horns that I worked with the more fascinated I became with them. The colors, the shapes, the pure, simple natural beauty. The layers of color mixing together over the years of the life of these majestic animals. Twisting and turning they grow with colors hidden under the rough and dirty outer layers. I feel fortunate to get to work with such beautiful pieces, but as I built the traditional longhorn mounts and furniture, something was missing. I felt that my customers or anyone who saw my work was missing out on the simple beauty that these horns hold. If they saw a chair or table made with horns, the response would be, "what a beautiful chair" or, "what an amazing table." Also, with the mounted longhorns, the response would often focus on the size or what amazing animals they must've come from. They would not touch them, or feel them, or look deep into them to admire the intricate blending of colors. I felt what was being missed was the amazing beauty that each horn holds. When people think of cattle horns, they simply think of spikes growing out of a cows head. What is missed are the amazing colors and shapes. When people think of cattle horns, I want them to think of them as they do flowers, like an intricate piece of nature crafted by God for man to enjoy. I know that no one is as passionate about these things as I am but if I could make others feel a fraction of the appreciation I have that would be the goal. 

So I had the idea of taking everything else away. Remove all functionality, all representations of the animals they came from. Arranging them in the way a florist would an arrange flowers, accentuating the intricacies of each individual horn.  What if I could place them in a way that would force viewers to appreciate their shape and polish them in a way that the colors had to be noticed. 

 pieces are created to remind the viewer of the beauty that can be found in nature, with hopes that they will see that longhorns fit right into the wonders of the natural world.