Showdown
Mendocino County Series
| 2010 | 16″x20″ | Private Collection |
Let’s talk about McNabs shall we? The McNab originated in Mendocino County as a stock dog gritty enough to work wild cattle in an unforgiving landscape. Remote and mountainous, there is no way to gather cattle in these parts without good horses and good dogs. Tough as nails, and just a general bad ass, these McNabs are cow hunting machines. We would ride the ridgelines listening.
When the sound of baying dogs reaches our ears, it’s often a Man-from-Snowy-River hell-bent-for-leather ride straight down the side of the mountain through brush and forest to get to the spot where the dogs are holding the cows. While the cows are then driven from horseback, the dogs are essential for flushing out cows that try to hide up in the brush and bunching cows that are trying to bolt and scatter.
These dogs are keeping the mean mama in line with absolute joy. This was part of the series painted after my 2010 Mendocino trip that was exhibited and sold at the 2011 Red Bluff Bull & Gelding Sale art show.
- 2011 – Red Bluff Bull & Gelding Sale Art Show
— Jessica Kong —
