Born in 1860, Frank Reaugh was an artist who devoted a great deal of his considerable artistic skills to impressionistic depictions of West Texas and its legendary longhorns. Steer with Mesa and Country Road, like most of Reaugh's pastels, are consistently small in size. Therefore, they are well adapted to transport and use in open country, allowing him to travel the vast expanses of the state easily and to work in the outdoors with relatively little fuss. He has been called the "Dean of Texas Artists" because in the 1890s, the first of many art students began accompanying him on the frequent sketching trips he made to West Texas. His pastel landscapes are considered some of the most poetic depictions of Texas ever produced. Pastels are beautiful when blended by a master to create the atmospheric effects, vivid colors, and ever changing light of West Texas, capturing the dramatic far-off horizons and spectacular skies found in the region.