Bringing Home the Spoils 1909

Charles M. Russell made this painting of cowboys and horses with oils. It is so amazing what you can do with oil paint! I can just imagine Russell working on this piece, layering the paint to create that sense of depth and distance. I feel the dust and sweat of those men and horses, riding through the heat of the day. Look at how he's captured the weariness in the posture of the lead rider, the way his shoulders slump just a bit. The colors, too, contribute to the mood. That golden light in the sky, as the day slowly turns to dusk, casts a warm, nostalgic glow over the scene. It makes me think about the way Frederic Remington used a similar earthy palette to evoke that feeling of the Wild West. Artists are always building on each other’s ideas, you know?