Incidentally, how did you capture the first shot of the writing cowboy?

It's funny...I got inspired by a photograph of Picasso that I have here in my house.  It was taken by Gjon Mili in 1949 (called Dessin De Lumiere) and he used a technique that I have rarely seen.  Pablo drew a bull in the air with a stick that was on fire.  

I did the same thing with the cowboy. Only we used a penlight. He had it in his hand on top of the rope.  I set up a single strobe (on the left) and had him write with the flashlight for 8 seconds in total darkness while my shutter was open.  Then at the end, I popped the flash and captured what you saw.