Bubble People??

I love working in India ink. Are these Bubble People? Actually, this painting is more serious than

it looks. The the round "bubbles" are actually shields. Before the Europeans introduced horses to North America, the native warriors used large round body shields for protection. They painted sacred and powerful images on them for safety and success in battle. The title of this work is "Polychrome Warriors" and the original painting and prints are for sale in the black and white gallery on this website. I visited the rock art site near Riverton, WY and saw dozens of these images carved into the rock panels. Some were 3 feet in diameter. It is often known as the Plains Ceremonial Style of rock art. Today it mostly can be found in the northern states across the plains. There is an interesting story about the turtle shield. It is no longer there. Someone used a chain saw to remove it from the rock panel. When he was found out , he moved it to the doorstep of the local museum. There is a large fine for vandalizing these sites. If you look closely below in the black area, there are spirit warriors, more shields, and crying mothers.

There is also an amazing site in a canyon in southern MT where the warriors are tiny - from one inch tall up to 4 inches, and there are hundreds of them. Some are painted (pictographs) and some are scratched. The land owner took us to the site and brought his gun because the rattlesnakes were active that week.

It has been requested that I provide purchase information on the works in this blog. This original work , as well as prints and cards are available in Gallery 5, "Black and White" The title is: Polychrome Warriors

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