Forrest Kirkland (Elroy Christenson's grandfather)

Forrest Kirkland, my grandfather, made his living as an illustrator in Dallas, Texas from about 1922 - 1945. Although his bread and butter was retouching photos of machinery, he did various illustrations for many different publications and companies of the region.

Forrest in his studio

Texas landscape, c 1925, oil on c1922

Texas landscape c 1925, oil on cardboard, 8" x 10" click for larger versions of his paintings.

As a hobby he started sketching the cave paintings around Texas and New Mexico areas on family outings. He believed that the existing Indian art works were being vandalized rapidly and so started a campaign to at least make copies for posterity. He went out frequently even with two small children and his wife, Sadie (Hollaway). Often he would have to stand up to his chest in water to be able to observe the paintings inside of the caves. He also was a member of a Dallas poetry society and an active member in the Dallas arts community in various capacities. Machine drawing (Forrest's bread-and-butter), airbrush tempera or ink.  by Forrest Kirkland collection of University of Texas Museum Forrest Kirkland, "Cotton Gin" Hardwicke Etter Co. two color plates painted on halftone negative on zinc, unknown date engraved by the Southwestern Engraving Company, Dallas, TX [print collection of Elroy Christenson]

Forrest's son, Roy, and daughter, Violet, painting about 1922

Panther Cave, Seminole Canyon on the lower Pecos river, Texas. Copied July 10, 1937. Original drawn to scale 1/4" to 1', Courtesy of the Texas Memorial Museum, accession 2261

A book of his scale drawn watercolors of Southwest Indian paintings was first reproduced by the University of Texas Press in 1967 and recently been reprinted. Since most of the information was provided by his second wife, there are a few inaccuracies. One major flaw in the book was, unfortunately, the unacknowledged first wife, Sadie,  and two children, Violet and Roy Kirkland.

Forrest with his father, Warren Kirkland, grandmother, Nancy J. (Roney), wife of Elijah Kirkland, a Civil War Veteran and Violet Kirkland, my mother.

Forrest's life with Sadie | Forrest's Indian Petroglyphs | Forrest's Paintings

Elroy's Family Index || Ancestor Chart #1

All information and photos included within these pages are here for the express purpose of personal genealogical research and may not be included or used for any commercial purpose or included in any commercial site without the express permission of Elroy Christenson. Please give credit to the many researchers who made this material available and list this URL for material used in any of the families covered.  Copyright Elroy Christenson 1998-2013