Now In: Greene, Bruce

Bruce and his family live on a small ranch in the historical community of Norse, near Clifton, Texas. The artist’s studio is on the edge of the hill out behind the house. From there, large north windows offer Bruce a continuous view of the Texas Hill Country, a few Hereford cows and the occasional whitetail deer. “It is a wonderful blessing to be able to make a living for my family, doing what I love in this beautiful place,” says Greene.

Several years ago, Bruce began making annual trips to join in the spring work on the great, old JA Ranch in the Palo Duro Canyon of north Texas. “I go up there and stay on the chuck wagon with the JA hands and the neighbors that have come to help. We ride a lot of miles in rough country. It can be cold, hot, windy and wet. As a matter of fact, it can be all of these in one day. A fella’ could get lost in some of the mesquite or cedar thickets. Of course, we work a few cows on our place and help out a neighbor now and then, but the JA trip has been a real inspiration for me each year. I am absolutely sure that this experience has greatly affected my artwork. It seems necessary, to me, in order to depict the contemporary cowboy with accuracy and feeling. My good friend, Red Steagall, calls it ‘getting the dust in your nose.’ For me, that dust makes the difference.”