Days of Peace

During my earliest days as an artist I became fascinated with the quiet dignity and wilderness lifestyle of the plains Indian. Like cottages and cabins, the beautiful cone-shaped Indian teepee, fashioned of tanned buffalo hide, seems so natural a part of the great outdoors – and a perfect accent in a landscape painting!

The Blackfoot Indians – whose splendidly decorated teepee doted the northern plains – were a special favorite. They lived among the same mountains I came to know in my travels. Their stately teepees even appear to have been inspired by snow-capped peaks and towering pines. Days of Peace is typical of my work on the theme of the American Indians. The looming mountain resembles those I’ve seen in the Cascades and Rockies – its massive presence is echoed by the teepees in the foreground – on a trans-continental artistic “hobo’s hoist” in 1980.

The nomadic Indian culture flourished for two centuries, then disappeared from the American stage. I’ve given it a dramatic setting in my Days of Peace – especially the lighting, which is theatrical in its intensity. Sunset touches the clouds that bang like curtains over the scene with brilliant reds and golds. The rediscovery of Days of Peace has inspired me. Who knows, perhaps I will do a new tribute to Native American life in my mature painting style.