The Tin Cup

I figure Native Americans were not the only ones who passed this way, following the river. There would have been flat land explorers, the equivalent of mountain men, at least in the later years. The discovery of a tin cup would have given away their passage and raised questions. Who did it belong to? How long ago did they pass this way and which way were they going? Why would such a valuable item be left behind? Were they running? Surprised by someone or something? And how many of them were there?

The Tin Cup, 9″x12″, Acrylic (I apologize for the quality of the image. )

In producing these little moments in time, I’ve taken some artistic liberties, of course. The river is an interpretation of what I can see in the short distance accessible to me. And since there are not likely to be many photographs of the area from that period of time, I’m painting a current version. In traveling Texas, and other parts of the country as well, I often look at the countryside and wonder what did it look like in the days of the pioneers, in the time of the buffalo and far-ranging Native American tribes? Were those trees really there back then, or were they just low foliage? I have to use my imagination and try to create an interesting view with what I can see.

In my last post, I said I would include sketches from time to time. Here are a couple for now. I’m obviously still experimenting with portraying people with paint and brushes. Painting them at a relatively small size presents an additional challege.

There is another aspect to this and that is the clothing – or lack of it. My research indicates that the early Native Americans wore a variety of clothing, and sometimes they wore very little. Edward S. Curtis was perhaps the most prolific photographer of Native Americans. The problem for me is that he mostly showed them in ceremonial clothing, “dressed up” if you will. Western artist Charles Russell showed a more “native” version and I’ll probably spend a little more time with his paintings and drawings because he was closer to his subject. I’ll also be looking at Frederick Remington’s work, keeping in mind that he sometimes romanticized his version of those early days. Howard Terpning is a more recent source for Native American images. He produced so many paintings that it’s hard to avoid copying his work. I am striving to sketch and draw my own figures while using these resources for clothing and weapons.

There’s more to come. I have two new acrylic paintings in progress.

Thanks for sticking with me.