The Raven Followers 1975

Tom Lovell made "The Raven Followers" with oil paint, probably sometime in the 20th century. The browns and ochres, the tans and yellows, make you feel the heat of the day, but the brushstrokes are so calm. I love the way the artist made the horses, their forms simplified but solid, giving them a feeling of rest and alertness at the same time. I can imagine Lovell thinking about how the animals are a quiet part of the landscape, but also how the humans and animals are one. The artist probably thought a lot about what it must have been like to live on this land. It makes me think about painters like Frederic Remington, who also told stories about the West through painting. You get a sense of artists like Lovell and Remington being inspired by each other and other painters to show different ways of seeing the world. Painting captures a feeling. It's a visual diary, a historical document, and a work of art all at once.