“Blue Thunder Horse” 24 x 36” Oil on Masonite Panel

The imagery which inspired this painting came from a book of ledger art called the Henderson Ledger.  This book of Native American drawings dates from 1882 and contains drawings from several hands.   The image which inspired me is about vision and power and is filled with Native American symbols.  A Medicine Being is mounted upon a horse.  The horse is painted blue and is decorated with red hailstones.  The horse and Medicine Being appear to be shielded from bullets or arrows, perhaps protected by the shield which seems to be flying into the figure’s hand.  The Medicine Being seems to be listening to the bird, whose image is also adorning the shield.  Blue and red lines radiate from the Medicine Being and from the shield, and in my painting, sink away out of the field of vision.   At the far right of the image is a cross-like shape, often found in petroglyph art to symbolize a Thunderbird.  It dawned on me after reflecting on what I had painted, how subliminally powerful the Christian religion symbol of the cross was to the Native Americans.