Many of the ledger art images I have come across are very stylized: simplified forms resembling ancient cave drawings in some ways.   The primal response to telling a story:  to embellish where needed; and to simplify where prudent as well!

I have been painting a great deal: especially liking this one, as it is depicting the importance of the bison to the Native American culture.  Purposefully making the imagery reminiscent of cave painting, I am telling the story that has no beginning… mankind’s hunt of the bison goes back well before recorded time.

There is a bison jump near Spearfish:  it inspires my imagination, to realize that Native American tribes knew of this site, and utilized it for centuries… the stack of bones that are being excavated is astounding.  It makes me realize that the site was ingrained in the tribe’s yearly food harvest. The bison were herded near the spot,then stampeded over the cliff.  The many arrowheads also excavated, are evidence of the people standing above the pit, finishing off the bison who fell in.   The site near my home is called the Vore Buffalo Jump:  it is just over the SD state line, on what we call “the Old Beulah Road, as it is between Spearfish SD  and Beulah WY.