Chief Joseph

I looked through your impressive North American Native Persons gallery. Such proud faces, very well illustrated. I'm very impressed with it. I like what I see in it. Well done. I hope others will view it and comment too...

Thank you so much for that Phil. The Navaho people have a saying - "Walk in beauty", which refers to how you act in life. Chief Joseph was a great man, who tried to live a life of peace, and bring his people (The Nez Pearce) to safety through dire circumstances. His story is quite tragic. There are still issues today concerning this subject. I remember being on a flight once between Denver and Bozeman, Montana, and a lady asked me what I had been doing. I told her that I was visiting North American reserves to learn about the history of the people. I was amazed by her reaction! As soon as I used the word Native American, her face contorted and looked like she was chewing a wasp! She said no more, and I was happy for the lack. What a strange world we live in, that we cannot celebrate our differering cultures together. Jo-Anne

Yes agree with Phil excellent pastel work. Just like your oils. Lovely to sit and study. Definitely strange world we live in. Do they not know they are the natives and were treated so badly - happens in so many countries still to this day. I applaud your work Jo-Anne when you enjoy painting a subject it really shines through, as it as here.

The closest I got to a North American Native Person was on my Trans-Canadian Rail epic journey from Vancouver to Montreal...I met only one and in a Greek Restaurant in Jasper on a three-day stop over. I was so impressed I forgot to ask if I could take the photo...but then I have other cherished memories of times with the simple people in Greece that I never photographed...goat herders & shepherds...and other nomads...PS I read your Blog too...

Thanks for your kind comments Phil and Jeannette. The whole world is full of interesting people who don't mind if you paint them. There are superstitions in some cultural belief systems that prevent photographic work. (You need special permission to take a camera onto Hopi land etc) I feel bad for the First Nations because they have been treated so badly, and when I visited, I was treated in the main with open arms. I was naive enough to hold a medicine man's sacred talisman (not supposed to), and he still forgave me for that, and both he and his wife were open and friendly, sharing their knowledge and history with me. I feel fortunate that I have a couple of good friends who are Native American, and who live in Canada. They live in Quebec. I visited Alberta and hope to visit BC one day, cos my heart lives in the Rockies, and my Canadian pals are such nice people. Do you paint your shepherds? It is so fabulous to paint the culture of the world.

Absolutely love your paintings, and agree entirely with all you have to say.

I just love these strong portraits of these proud people...in 1968 on a post grad trip around America I met a Navajo young man on a Greyhound who was travelling home to Arizona from Canada where he attended University because he was not allowed entrance into an American University I was horrified...in Salt Lake City he wasn't allowed into the Mormon Temple...his name was Leon and I have a photograph of him I'll try to get it onto the site...he was taking a degree in Engineering and I so hope he did well in life...people passing as we walked with him gave us looks like they had just sniffed poop...sorry about the description