Artists often find inspiration for their works from life, so it isn't much of a surprise that we find so many songs about the moon and stars like Claire De Lune or paintings like Van Gogh's 'Starry Starry Night'.  You just have to go outside in the country away from the city lights and look up to understand why.

It was a Tuesday late morning at the Gold Rush Cafe on Skillman in Dallas; Brian Guilliaux, a polymath that creates intense photography, abstract paintings and moody instrumental compositions was having a cup of coffee with Renaissance man Ford Nelson, a guitarist, pianist, composer, producer, songwriter, educator & app-developer.

They were talking about their ideas, Ford was going on, in depth on how he used the different characteristics of the zodiac for writing his music, how the ideas would flow, how he'd just focus on the star sign and then allow the stories to come.  Of course in 2024, musical artists need t-shirts.

Brian had an idea. . . 

"What if we take a scorpion, give it a cowboy hat and a guitar, then put it on a t-shirt?!"

Delightful laughter followed and a discussion about the rest of the signs and what they'd look like ensued. A bull with a guitar and a cowboy hat, twin guitars for Gemini, catfish for Pisces, it seemed ridiculous but at the same time made a lot of sense.

Not thinking much of it the two went on their way.  Ford back to Grapevine to mine away at his songs and Brian to East Texas to photograph the first ballet ever performed on Caddo Lake.  Later that night after the ballet was over and the stars were brightly shining down on Brian, everything clicked and he got to designing.

Three days later Ford received an email from Brian with all of the designs you see here and Cowboy Star Signs was born!