The Parramore Sketches

In 1885, at the age of ten, D. D. Parramore studied art with an itinerant artist in the four-year-old town of Abilene, Texas. Although he displayed considerable talent, he was discouraged from sketching and painting by his father. He was allowed no more instruction in what was then considered an unmanly occupation, especially for the son of an enterprising frontier cattleman, Heeding his father's wishes, Pharramore homesteaded land and bought surrounding sections in West Texas. After his retirement from active ranching, however, he returned to his early love of drawing. In the mid-1930s he began a series of pencil sketches to entertain and instruct his two young grandchildren. The activity grew into a satisfying hobby, which he pursued until his death in 1946. The drawings depict an unromanticized and sometimes humorous version of the life of early settlers and cowboys that Paramore remembered so well, He had a wealth of favorite stories that he illustrated in words and text. Some were based on fact, some on hearsay, and some may be considered tall tales, but taken together, they represent a cross-section of ranch life in Texas just before and after the turn of the century. Origina