“Native American legends have always intrigued me,” says Judy Larson, “especially those involving talking animals. So it was difficult not to be enthralled by one such story, a Cheyenne legend in which an eagle is trapped in a dead elk’s antlers. After asking for help from a warrior who is out hunting, he is set free. The eagle is so grateful that his life has been saved that before flying away, he tells the man to go to the other side of a hill and to look below. There the warrior sees his reward, a beautiful stallion covered with black and white spots exactly like an eagle’s feathers.”
Spotted eagle feathers, highly prized by Native Americans, come only from the tail section of immature golden eagles. In Eagle’s Gift, Judy has replicated the eagle feather pattern on the horse’s coat and has hidden therein an eagle or two.

To live in harmony with the forces of nature is the essence of being wild. The untamed mustang embodies unbound freedom honed by the raucous ebb and flow of Mother Nature. Instincts, unfettered by the influence of man and acquired over generations, guide, like guardian spirits, the horses co-existence with the elements. This mustang, bathed in amber by the light of an encroaching prairie fire, makes for safety just beyond the edges of the temporary destructions. Soon, renewal will spring from the ashes, but there is something more to these forces of nature.

“I was thinking in terms of ‘I'm golden’ when I named this piece,” begins Judy Larson. “By 'Golden' I mean that the horse is thinking ‘All is right with me and the world. The sun is shining, there's food to eat, freedom to relish, friendship and companionship within the herd and a sense of well-being and joy.’ The horse has become, in my mind's eye, a wild horse, probably in the high meadows as the snow melts and as new grass springs forth. He's golden . . . .”
What could be a more wonderful reason to paint a painting? "Golden" is a 10" x 5 ½" SmallWorks™ Fine Art Giclèe canvas mounted on archival Clayboard. Judy’s last SmallWorks™, "Fearless," is already Sold Out at Publisher. So don’t wait too long to embrace this Golden moment, it could be fleeting.

He Dog. Childhood friend of Crazy Horse, witness to his murder.

Born in the same year, in the same season, He Dog and Crazy Horse grew up together in the same Ogala band, played together, courted girls together, fought together. Distinguishing themselves in both war and peace, they were made chiefs, “shirt weavers” and hence bearers of the Crow Owner’s Society. He Dog, at age 92 in 1930, gave his personal account of the killing of Crazy Horse by a soldier at Fort Robinson in 1877. He Dog was at his side, a friend to the last.
The magnificent stallion featured in He Dog pays homage not only to the “sacred dog,” the horse, of the Plains Indians, but also to the noble life of a great Dakota.

In many ways, lone wolves look for love in much the same way that humans do. Finding a suitable mate, getting along well, courting and marrying and ultimately raising a family together are inherent in both species.
For the lone male wolf, however, he must leave the protection and companionship of his original pack, sometimes roam long distances and search for a female wolf who has set off on a similar mission. These quests take place during the breeding season, when scent is important and both wolves are compatible and ready to start an active courtship.
A pair might also meet quite accidentally, but most often the howling of a lone wolf, which can carry a mile or more, will signal to a potential partner that love is in the air. If that call receives a response, the two wolves locate each other by continuing to howl. Courtship ensues and there is much grinning, kissing and “talking.” If one, or neither, wolf is ready to breed at this point, they will spend days and sometimes several weeks together first, romping, playing, hunting, resting and feeding. They will wander in search of new territory, being careful not to intrude on, or invade, another pack’s territory. Love has blossomed and a new family is born.

“It took extraordinary courage to ride at full gallop into a thundering herd of buffalo armed with only a bow and arrow,” Judy Larson says with admiration. “Essential to that audacity was the Plains Indian’s trust in his mount. Often, it was not his war horse he used on the hunt, but one trained to negotiate through the unpredictable tangle of the stampede without panic and cut a wounded buffalo from the herd. Any mistake could lead to sudden death.
“The Appaloosa was a horse often favored for the hunt. The symbols adorning a steed for the hunt were different from those chosen for war. A Sacred Buffalo or Buffalo Tracks represented thanks to the Great Spirit for success in past hunts. The Sun of Happiness was used to call for blue skies. Hunting during a rain storm was dangerous and considered unfair to the Great Spirit and to the buffalo. The Circle of Vision was painted around the horse's eye for sharp vision and to help locate distant buffalo on the horizon. On the tipi behind, you’ll also see yellow and black stripes which indicated to the Plains Indians buffalo trails.”
A hunter’s wife would paint a symbol on the horse that represented her secret prayer to the Great Spirit for her husband on the hunt. If the man was not yet married, his mother would paint that symbol. If the hunt was successful, that symbol would most likely be used again. Judy’s hidden spirit, a buffalo head, symbolizes her hope for this warrior’s safe and victorious hunt.
The Buffalo Tipi is the fourth in Judy Larson’s highly popular series that explores the ties between the legends and lifestyle of the Plains Indian. The others include The Elk Dog Tipi, The Horse Tipi and The Crow Tipi. This Limited Edition Fine Art Canvas delivers gallery wrapped for display as a contemporary work of art.

When artist Judy Larson came across the Blackfeet Indian legend of "The Crow Tipi," she was enthralled with the various elements of the story and how they might come together in a painting. In the legend, there was a brave warrior who stole horses and guns for his tribe. The head chief of the tribe became jealous of the warrior’s success and glory and used witchcraft to bring bad luck to the man. Three times the brave man rode out to battle and three times he returned on foot, because his horses had run away.
As the warrior lay sleeping after returning home from a raid, he dreamt that a man came to him and said, “You should not have had to walk home alone these nights. I see you have given a share of the meat from a buffalo you killed to my children, the crows. For your kindness I will give you two things: the power to become a chief of your tribe and my own specially painted tipi, 'The Crow Tipi.' Go a little way from here and you will find horses. ”The warrior became chief of the Buffalo Dung band and the Crow Tipi remains in his tribe to this day."

In the 1800s, seeing a grizzly in the mountains above Napa Valley would have been as common as seeing a deer. Then, grizzlies were as numerous in California as they are in Alaska. Vivid accounts of human maulings and bull-and-bear fights mingled legend and fact. The monstrous and ferocious grizzlies of California were described as weighing anywhere from several hundred to several thousand pounds. During the mid-1880s, although big game hunters arrived, along with the cattlemen, sheep men, the grizzly was a predator worthy of extermination. As the wilderness of the Sierras and the coastal thickets diminished in size from the encroachment of civilizations, California grizzlies were killed by the thousands. Sadly, although California’s state emblem is the Great Golden Bear, no wild grizzly has been seen here since 1922.
Things are different now. Ancient trees have been cut down and vineyards now grow in there stead. The scream of the hawk once solitary and piercing, was now quickly joined by the crow of someone’s backyard rooster. True, many of the forests of pine and fir, Manzanita and oak remain, overgrown and impenetrable. But there are no deer paths, no deer. So much of the magic is gone.