I am joining other artists who are participating in Seth Apter’s “Buried Treasure” Collaboration … each of us are invited to re-post one or more of our favorite posts to have ever appeared on our blogs. (You’ll want to visit former posts from the ever-talented Seth, as well as all participating artists.)

I really enjoy my Wild West Wednesday posts, and this one gave me a chance to combine history, photography, and digital art/collage. It was such a hoot juxtaposing Doc, Wyatt Earp, and Bat Masterson into a digital collage while exploring their “GQ fashion sense.” I do believe they would give Tim Gunn of Project Runway a run for his money!

Plus, there are simply no men alive today who possess the charm, prowess, style, and skill of the legendary Wyatt Earp Tombstone Gang. Read on, and see if you aren’t fascinated by John Henry Holiday, aka Doc Holiday – dentist, marksman, poet, ladies’ man, and loyal friend …

“Fastidious” ~ © Deb Trotter, Cowboy’s Sweetheart (pictured, from the top, Left to right – Doc Holliday, Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp. Center [full figure] – Mr. Somebody – a potential candidate for GQ … Old West Style.)

Look at the tagline for GQ Magazine, and you’ll see “Look Sharp. Live Smart.”

Now, imagine it’s 1881. You’re GQ’s editor. You need a man … someone who embodies that description … to feature on the front cover.

You’re looking for a sharp dresser. A man of confidence. A man with some notoriety. A man who’ll illicit a strong reaction – positive, negative – or both (which is even better).

Women will adore him. Men will either really like him or really, really hate him. He’ll be much too acclaimed for it to matter either way – nor will he care.

This is, after all – a man who lives by his own rules.

Immediately, you know who you want … John Henry Holliday – better known as “Doc Holliday.”

You’ve got a winner. I’ll bet ya the magazine sells out in less than a week.

However, if Doc is indisposed (tuberculosis can do that to a guy), you have some other fine choices. Wyatt Earp or Bat Masterson would work just fine. All three were fastidious dressers.

But you could safely say that Doc Holliday was the best dressed of them all … the wild west “master of meticulous.” As folks were want to say years ago, Doc “cut a fine figure.”

Doc adhered to painstaking grooming of his hair and moustache. Two of his standard trademarks were a cane – which he needed for walking due to lung disease – and a diamond stick pin which he proudly wore with a tie.

In Karen Holliday Tanner’s book, Doc Holliday – A Family Portrait, you’ll read that his long time companion, Big Nose Kate called Doc “… a handsome man. A gentleman in manners to the ladies … He was a neat dresser and saw to it that his wife was dressed as nicely as himself.”

When I came upon this 1887 vintage daguerreotype of a young man (we’ll call him Mr. Somebody) posing by a lake, it immediately reminded me of Doc Holliday and inspired me to create “Fastidious.” He has that same “Don’t Mess With Me” attitude that Doc, Wyatt Earp, and Bat Masterson all shared … though he appears to be a bit more of a “dandy.”

According to Wikipeodia, A dandy[1] (also known as a beau, or gallant[2]) is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance in a cult of Self.

Dandy – That’s Doc Holliday to a “T” … ‘long as there was a gun hidden somewhere in Mr. Somebody’s pocket (and he could actually shoot it worth a darn) he could almost be a member of ‘The GQ Fastidious Club.’

Speaking of “fastidious,” my favorite “Aha Moment” while creating this piece? Adding the vector image of shirts and ties in photoshop. It worked so perfectly that it appears Wyatt Earp is actually wearing one of them!

I love it when something in my art process seems “meant to be.”

“Fastidious” … my own version of GQ – Wild West Style. Men from the Old West who “look sharp (and) live smart.”

What about it, GQ? How ’bout this artwork for your next cover?

Deb Trotter ~ Cowboy’s Sweetheart Artist

Sometimes an artist has to push the envelope a little. Find the light in the dark places and embrace the shadows in the brighter ones.

I’ve been taking Vivienne McMaster’s “You Are Your Own Muse” photography class online, and I have to say she is a genius.

I am finally learning to see myself.

I don’t know why, but I’ve always found it difficult to share photos of myself on my blog. I really envy and admire artists who share their own pictures so generously. It makes me feel as if I know them somehow.

That clever Vivienne! With our very first lesson she had us playing with shadows – and soon after that we were setting our cameras on the floor or leaning over to shoot ourselves from a different angle. (I would’ve used my little Nikon shooting gadget but I only found it yesterday.)

I’m beginning to feel a bit more comfortable with the idea of sharing myself. So comfortable in fact, that I am willing to show you my big feet!

I’ve had those woolen clogs for years. I reach for them when I’m cleaning, organizing, or in this case – when I need what I call “sure-footed-ness.”

Vivienne already has me seeing everything differently. Who knew I didn’t look down enough? If I did it more often, I might discover something like this …

Way down there … on the floor, beside our patio window? Can you see it all? Rugs, our Dog-Arwen, and the ends of my clog-wearing feet.

Thank you, Vivienne. I’m finally learning to see myself – I really am.

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Deb Trotter ~ Cowboy’s Sweetheart Artist