970-225-2903 Land
970-305-0965 Text
Flying Bear Ranch Ft. Collins, CO
Sample Artwork
The finest in reproductive images are the giclee on canvas.
These are not under glass and include the
Certificate of Authenticity, or COA.
"Among The Spirits of the Long Ago People" by Howard Tepning
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“You know a painting is special when it’s the piece in an exhibition that the collectors just stand in front of for a long period of time and simply don’t say a word. And, they keep coming back to do it again and again. If interrupted, they’ll return to it, intent on having the opportunity to enjoy a great work of art.”
This magnificent work ‘Among the Spirits of the Long-Ago People’ is the winner of the 2011 Thomas Moran Award for Painting. Terpning begins with a simple common premise; the grandeur of nature can be sacred. He relates that emotion not by creating a landscape painting but by focusing on the reverence these men have for what they see. The petroglyphs show that this is an ancient understanding. These men knew it to be so in their time, just as we do today. Their silence, as they take in the wonder about them, is not unlike that of the collectors we saw view this work for the first time.
Quoted from Howard Terpning 2011
The outside dimension is 50" x 52"
‘Camp at Cougar’s Den’ by Howard Terpning
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“Some years ago, while riding horseback in the Bitterroot Range with a friend, we came upon this interesting maze of rocks and fallen timbers high up in the mountains,” says Terpning regarding the inspiration for Camp at Cougar’s Den. “Upon close examination we could detect the smell of a cougar in the small cave-like enclosure. The whole scene took on an even more primitive and wild nature and I knew that this den could be the setting for a story. I realized a camp scene would be a logical choice, with Blackfoot raiders out to create some mischief and stopped for the night before traveling on.”
Camp at Cougar’s Den was recipient of a pair of awards at the Autry Museum Exhibition and Sale at the Museum of the American West formerly the Autry Museum of Western Heritage): The Thomas Moran Memorial Award for Painting for exceptional artistic merit and The Patron Choice Award for work most popular with the patrons of the exhibition and sale.
Quoted from Howard Terpning 2005
The outside dimension is 56" x 48"
‘Holy Man of the Blackfoot’ by Howard Terpning
“A once valiant, now aging warrior with silver hair and weathered brow sits in prayer or private ceremony. Painted horses and buffalo on the tipi liner document that this man was once a brave warrior and skilled hunter. His personal adornment, particularly his leggings, includes references to many coup – of rifles captured, lances taken, and victories won.
The ancient one looks aloft toward greater spirits or memories past. With gnarled hand, he holds aloft the dark feathers of an eagle and offers words of experience to the unseen.”
Quoted from Howard Terpning 1997
The outside dimension is 37" x 48"
‘Medicine Shield of the Blackfoot’ by Howard Terpning
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“Among the Blackfoot people the shield was the most cherished and protective possession. Above all, it was a medicine object. Making a shield could be a lengthy process involving several people, but it had to start with the hide taken from the neck and shoulder of a bull buffalo Once the hair was removed, this thick hide was then placed over a fire pit filled with hot stones and staked to the ground. The heat of the stones would gradually shrink the hide until it was about one inch thick. It was then painted and decorated to conform to the owner’s dream. When the shield was not carried by the owner on a war party, it was supported on a tri-pod outside the teepee on sunny days, and as the sun moved, the tri-pod was turned so that the face of the shield would always be in direct sunlight.”
Quoted from Howard Terpning 2006
The outside dimension is 34" x 35"
‘Opening the Sacred Bundle’ by Howard Terpning
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“These four Plains Indians are seated in a tepee around a smoldering fire of sweet grass and sage. The headdress of the figure opening the bundle may be familiar to you. It is the same one worn by the subject of ‘Talking Robe’, which is the painting I created to replace this one for the Cowboy Artists’ show because my wife and I decided to keep this one.”
Quoted from Howard Terpning 1995
The outside dimension is 39" x 49"
Pride by Dave Holman
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This is an original oil painting called "Pride" of a Havasupai Native American woman by late artist Dave Holman. Inspired by a trip taken to attend a Havasupai Pow-Wow in the Grand Canyon area known as Cataract Canyon. In 1975, this tribe was able to regain about 10% of their original lands back from the National Park Service where they currently survive thru tourism. It is still a challenging issue.
The outside dimensions are 46" x 58"
'Prospectors Among the Blackfeet' by Howard Terpning
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For good reason, the Blackfoot Indians were wary of the encroaching white ma. When the Blackfeet found evidence of his incursion onto their lands, they took note.
In Prospectors Among the Blackfeet, a traveling group of warriors stops at the sight of a prospector’s gold pan and other accursions left behind in a shallow stream. What these braves value is far different from what the owner of the gold pan sought, and the inevitable clash of cultures worked its eventual way to its historical conclusion. Finding gold in the treaty-protected Black Hills led to the final crushing military campaigns against the Sioux and Cheyenne and the defeat of Custer at Little Big Horn.
The outside dimension is 43" x 50"
‘Spirit of the Plains’ by Howard Terpning
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They followed the warrior’s way as proud horsemen with an appetite for competition, excellence and danger. Emboldened by bravery and with the protection of their sacred medicines, the Plains Indians would fight for revenge but welcomed the chance to test their courage.
Our ideal image for the Plains Indian warrior endures even though the full glory of his greatness has vanished. He remains an important American icon, every bit as pertinent to our past as the cracked bronze bell in Philadelphia or Plymouth Rock in New England. However, the ‘winning’ of the American West is not a tale told of triumph, but rather of tragedy.
Quoted from COA 2016
The outside dimension is 34" x 41"
‘Stone Bridge Crossing’ by Doug Hall
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Doug Hall has always lived in the hills and woods of Southwest Missouri. Growing up in Neosho Missouri, he wanted to be a frontiersman. At age 15 he skipped school and talked his brother into driving him to Kentucky to buy his first flint lock musket.
He says he has no recollection of a time when he did not paint. His mother fostered this talent and cultivated it by providing books, oil paints, canvas and always had an easel up in the house. Doug focuses his paintings on Eastern Woodland Indians.
He paints at his Log Cabin Studio in Southwest Missouri, where he also rides his Missouri Fox Trotters. On Sundays he hosts a black powder shoot at the range behind the Studio. He now lives in McDonald County surrounded by Huckleberry State Forest.
The outside dimension is 46" x 58"
‘Tales of Glory Past’ by Martin Grelle
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Animated evening entertainment until Mr. Sandman disperses the audience.
2022
The outside dimension is 38" x 54"
‘Three Generations’ by Howard Terpning
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“An extended family of Crow women is portrayed in ‘Three Generations’ Skilled in the many demanding domestic tasks of their culture, these tribeswomen passed their traditions down from one generation to the next, ensuring the future of their tribe and customs. In this family portrait, the distinctive and expressive faces of the grandmother, mother, and granddaughter are unique and yet universal. The middle generation carries the weight of responsibility with dignity; the elder, perhaps, now knows joy in understanding the circle of all life and the adolescent is in the awkward stage we see in many of our own family portraits!”
Quoted from Howard Terpning 2004
The outside dimension is 43" x 46"
“Vanishing Pony Tracks” by Howard Terpning
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“Horse stealing was a sport among the Plains Indians and an important way to gain honor and prestige among other members of their tribe” says Terpning. “The man in the foreground has his horse stealing medicine attached to his belt with a miniature rope. These four Blackfoot warriors have been following a large band of trappers just waiting for the right moment to capture some of their stock. They no doubt took these ponies in the middle of the night and are now trying to put as much distance as they can between themselves and the trappers who are certainly attempting to track the Blackfoot and take their ponies back. These raiders are using every ruse to elude their pursuers including crossing the river in hopes that their tracks will be lost or at least delay their pursuers.” Quoted from Howard Terpning COA 2006
The outside dimension is 48" x 62"
‘Where Spirits Dwell’ by Howard Terpning
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Many of Terpning’s most revered paintings focus on the wonder, admiration and respect the Native American held for the land in which they lived. The Force of Nature Humbles All Men, With Mother Earth and On the Edge of the World all explore the introspective power nature has over man. ‘Where Spirits Dwell’ takes that idea one step further by presenting, in scale, the majestic scope of the land in relationship to man.
Quoted from Howard Terpning 2010
The outside dimension is 40" x 52"