Blackfeet Burning Crow Buffalo Range 1905

Charles M. Russell made this watercolour, "Blackfeet Burning Crow Buffalo Range," and it’s like looking through a sepia-toned memory. You can almost feel the dry heat rippling across the plains. The brushwork is loose, like he’s chasing the light, trying to catch that fleeting moment. It's really interesting to see how much he can suggest with so little detail. Check out the figure crouched by the fire; you can practically feel the warmth on their skin from the way the colours are used. The palette is warm, a sort of hazy amber and brown which really evokes the landscape. What is especially interesting for me is the smoke curling upwards from the fire; it's almost as if Russell is suggesting a conversation between the earth and sky. The colour and loose handling remind me of some of Winslow Homer’s watercolours, like they are both trying to capture the feeling of being there, in that specific place and time. Ultimately, painting is about embracing the questions and the ambiguities, not trying to nail everything down too tightly, right?