Texas Longhorn Holster

This is a holster from a Tandy Leather kit.  It has a Spanish Floral design with a Texas Longhorn Steer on it.  I can not take credit for the beautiful belt shown in the photo, but they do match up well.  I gave this holster to Debbie Clark,  a friend and co-worker of my wife.  It is my hope that Debbie wears it one day in the Rose Parade--which she has appeared in twice already as part of the equestrian group, "The Mane Attraction." (Photo Credit:  Debbie Clark)

Pittsburgh Steel Mill

I have always wanted to do a painting of the steel mills of Pittsburgh.  I was born in McKeesport, which is outside of Pittsburgh.  My grandfather, Gaetano Carrozzo and my Uncle George Klipa both worked in the steel mills.  As a child, my Uncle gave my father and me a tour of a steel mill.  It was like standing in front of the gates of hell.  The noise was deafening, the heat was searing, the smoke and smell of the place was over-powering.  I wanted to try to do a painting of the interior of a steel mill, but could not come up with a good subject that I thought I could capture.  Instead, I used a beautiful painting called, "Steel Mill Verticals" by Claire Hardy as my model.