At Rope's End 1909

Charles M. Russell captured this scene, At Rope's End, with oils, and you can just imagine the way he built up the surface, layering those strokes of sandy hues to evoke the harsh landscape. I can almost feel the grit between my teeth looking at this. You get the sense that Russell isn't just painting what he sees, but what he knows, what he feels in his bones. The dust kicked up by the horses, the tension in the ropes, that poor coyote being flung through the air. What was he thinking when he made this? Was he out there with those cowboys? Look at the way he captures the movement – the horses straining, the coyote tumbling. It's like he's freezing a moment in time, but also conveying the energy of the chase. His composition is almost cinematic; you can imagine a soundtrack to this painting, the thundering hooves, the yelps of the coyote, the shouts of the cowboys. It reminds me of the dynamism you see in some of the Italian futurists. Painters are always in conversation with one another across time, inspiring each other's creativity. Painting is a way of expressing something that can't be put into words. It's a feeling, an emotion, a moment captured in time.