Chapter Sketches

Sketch – Chapter One

This is Betsy, one of the milk cows on the fictional ranch in  Smile-Mile Inheritance. She became my focus when I needed a different sketch for Chapter One.

Not knowing what to use, I reread the chapter to find something I could truly see—and ah ha! Thomas, looking out the window several times during that intense reading of the Will.

I turned to my site plan: what would Thomas be seeing? Yes—the barn and the arena—yet there had to be something that kept capturing his attention.

Of course—Betsy! She had free run of the grazing rights in this faith-based story.

Sketch – Chapter Two

This is the foyer of the Main House at My  Ranch in  Smile-Mile Inheritance, it is a key location in this faith-based fictional trilogy. That strikingly stunning staircase has a story. Ella and Thomas share with Bruce how it came to be during their trek in the Rockies.

Then it was my job to find a photo that matched what I had created in story form. Yikes—are there really floating staircases? I didn’t know!

So off to the internet I went, and to my surprise—yes! Oodles of pictures of fancy homes with staircases that didn’t hug the wall.

Of course, I had to add the background scenes too, so I turned to my house layout plans and sketched what else you’d see as you walked in the front door of my fictional ranch house.

Sketch – Chapter Three

🌿 This is a camping scene—one of the many nights they had to camp out—so I thought it would be interesting to show what their campsite looked like in this fictional ranch story. Backpacks, tent, and hmm… only one chair. You’ll find out why as you read this faith-based story.

After I drew this, I had my personal editor and friend, Odilia, check it, as she did with every sketch. After all, she edited each chapter one at a time—and yup, she had me add a little critter.

According to my friend: “You talk about squirrels in every chapter. You’d better be showing a few in your sketches!”

So, I did. . . in fact, there are two, can you find them?

Sketch – Chapter Four

During this chapter found in  Smile-Mile Inheritance, Ella has a serious moment of reflection after a talk with Bruce and a comment by Ralph. She began remembering her many times with Uncle Charlie, especially fishing trips to the Ol’ Pond on the fictional ranch. She vividly describes the scene—and since I love being in the mountains, fishing and camping, I conjured up this scene to sketch.

Finding deer images online was easy. The beaver dam, however, was a bit tricky—mine isn’t built across a stream or river.

Well, you can read about that in my faith-based story and it took a lot of faith to build that dam.

PS: can you find the squirrel?

Sketch – Chapter Five

This sketch is ominous Slate Mountain—a major obstacle for Thomas and Ella in my Christian Novel, Smile-Mile Inheritance. You can read about that and what other trail Bruce needed to take with Champ.

It took a bit of online searching to find images that helped me draw this scene, yet nothing else in the chapter would do. This is a journey of grit and determination, as well as forgiveness and the quiet strength it takes to keep going.

You’ll understand this sketch more deeply after reading the chapter in Smile-Mile Inheritance .

Sketch – Chapter Six

This funny-looking scene in  Smile-Mile Inheritance is straight from the story. Champ, the pack horse and Ella’s loyal companion, is standing guard over… hmm, you’ll need to read the story to find out what Champ is guarding.

It was easy to find images of Morgan horses online—the trick was finding one in the pose I needed.

Because I have a deep love for horses, especially the Morgan breed, I knew exactly what I was looking for.

He’s a great character in this trilogy—not just in this faith-based volume.

Sketch – Chapter Seven

This fictional ranch scene at High Meadow was before my eyes the whole time I wrote this chapter: Champ grazing, while Jack sits as a sentinel over the blackberry hedge where Thomas and Ella have a heart-rending breakthrough in their relationship with their deceased parents.

It was easy to find Jack’s model—I had a photo of a dog in this pose among my own pictures. Finding a photo of a grazing Morgan was easy too, since it’s such a natural action for horses.

One of my proofreaders, James, even told me he saw this exact scene in his mind while reading the chapter. Nice to have that kind of confirmation for my faith-based novel.

Sketch – Chapter Eight

🌿 This scene shows the view that Thomas, Ella, and the others in the group are seeing as they hike the Rocky Mountains of Montana in this fictional faith-based story.

It took a lot of faith for Bruce to lead this trek—his task from Charlie was to teach those two kids something important. Well, you’ll need to read the story to find out what.

Because I love using historical and actual events and places, I did an online search for Montana landmarks and mountain ranges in the area of Butte, Montana.

When you read this chapter in Smile-Mile Inheritance, you’ll be able to pick out the landmark I’ve sketched.

Sketch – Chapter Nine

This is a very famous spot in my trilogy, and begins in Smile-Mile Inheritance: the Aspen Grove. It's a favorite place for Maria to visit, and she is the one who manages its upkeep.

You’ll get the full story of how it was formed as you journey through this faith-based story with Thomas and Ella.

It was a cinch to find images of aspen trees online, the trick was finding groves that matched my storyline. So I simply combined a few photos to create the grove that belongs at my fictional dude ranch.

Notice the critters? They’re all part of the story too.

Sketch – Chapter Ten

As I neared the end of sketches for Smile-Mile Inheritance, I realized how often I’d mentioned loading up the pack horse—Champ. Yet no one would truly catch the scope of that unless I actually showed the pack-saddle rig.

So I got online and found quite a few different types of pack-saddles. Knowing all the items that needed to be on Champ, I chose this type to match the needs of our fictional ranch journey. 

By the way, a Morgan can carry 300 to 500 lbs of gear, depending how it is packed.

And hmm… why is Jack running away?

You’ll need to read that chapter in this faith-based story to find out.

Sketch – Chapter Eleven
 

🌿 For this last sketch, I decided to show Charlie’s favorite horse, Ruth, and her buddy, Big Haus, out at our fictional dude ranch. Rather than Maria sitting on the veranda patiently and lovingly waiting for the return of Bruce, Thomas, Ella and the photographers. She is a bit anxious to hear about this journey of life they have experienced. Well, those horses have a story too.

The story of these two horses in this chapter play a big part in Ella’s growth, and I’m sure you’ll be just as intrigued as she was to hear about Big Haus.

Big Haus is a Clydesdale—a powerful breed often used for ranch work and farming—so it was natural to include a few in this trilogy, beginning with Smile-Mile Inheritance, of course.

And yes, that water trough is mentioned in the story too. On a real ranch, there are many reasons to use a trough, so I made sure to include it in this faith-based fictional ranch story as I have other factual things about ranching.