Folklore Art,Colorful Contemporary Wildlife Art Painting, “WHEN COYOTE WAS BLUE" by Colorado Artist Nancee Jean Busse, Painter of the American West

 

This is the 6th painting in my Native American Tales series. Each one depicts an animal that plays the starring role in a piece of animal folklore. Some stories resonate with strong visual imagery and those are the ones I want to paint. All I could find of this tale was a couple of sentences and no tribe of origin. But the picture that it created in my head was unforgettable. So I adapted and retold the story below, according to my interpretation. Prints are available. I'm hanging on to the originals for now while I finish out the series.

36"x24"

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Folklore Art, Wildlife Bear Painting "THE LEGEND OF AURORA BOREALIS" by Nancee Jean Busse, Painter of the American West

 

This is part of a series of 6 paintings based on Native American legends.

This painting is based on the legend: How the Aurora Borealis Came to Be.

Here’s my retelling:

 After the great flood, the planet tipped on its axis, plunging the North into long periods of darkness. In the North there lived a group of people who had been spared from the flood. But when they could no longer see the sun or feel its warmth, they became sad and afraid; cold and hungry.

 The Great Mother felt compassion for the People and told them to gather their belongings and walk south, where the sun would shine and provide bounty and warmth. But because there was no light and little food, many of the people perished on the dark, cold journey south.

 In a stroke of genius the Great Mother covered the top of the world with mountains and hills made of ice crystals. The ice crystals captured the sun’s rays and reflected them into the black sky and so illuminated the nomads’ path. They could then journey south under the shifting, humming rainbow of light and became the forerunners of many of the great tribes of North America.

 But the white bear stayed in the Great North. He stayed because he loved the beauty of the inky darkness, the music of whale song and sea birds, and the deep comfort of solitude.

36"x24"Acrylic on Yupo

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Folklore Art,Contemporary Western Art ,Equine Painting "SITTING BULL'S DANCING HORSE" by Colorado Landscape Artist Nancee Jean Busse

 

In the 1880s Sitting Bull joined Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. He traveled all over the country and saw many things, but wearied of the white man’s ways. He went back to the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota to be with his Hunkpapa people. Before he left the Wild West Show, Buffalo Bill gifted him with his favorite show horse which could do many tricks.

After returning to the Reservation, Sitting Bull became the center of the Ghost Dance movement, which the white men thought was the signal for a great uprising. The Ghost Dance Movement was really a religion of despair. It gave hope to people who had been deprived of their land, their food sources, and their connection to their own ancestry.

 On a winter day in 1890 43 Indian police were sent to arrest Sitting Bull for his involvement in the Ghost Dance Movement. When they dragged him out of his teepee a commotion began, and when it was over 15 people lay dead or dying, among them Sitting Bull.

When Sitting Bull’s dancing horse heard the battle, it thought it was back in the circus at the Wild West Show. It began dancing and prancing and raising up on its back legs, bowing and curtsying and doing all of the tricks it had been taught. All who witnessed this thought that the horse was possessed because it danced through a hail of bullets and was never hit. The horse still danced for a while after the massacre ended and until the scene was silent. It had honored its master in the only way it knew.

 Native American Legend,Equine Art Painting,Sitting Bull

 36"x24" Acrylic on Yupo

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Folklore, Bison Art Painting "How The Bison Got His Hump" by Nancee Jean Busse, Painter of the American West

 

Western Wildlife,Contemporary Bison painting

I’m currently completing a series of 6 paintings based on Native American legends. 

 This painting is based on the legend: How the Bison Got His Hump. Here’s my retelling:

 In the beginning days, the bison didn’t have a hump. He was fast and sleek and ran across the prairie having so much fun that he cared for nothing else. He didn’t notice (or didn’t care about) any small creature that got in his way. He trampled the birds and their fragile nests, he trampled the field mice, and the squirrels, and the foxes, and the rabbits. He crushed the flowers and the tender leaves that fed the prairie creatures. All of the creatures begged him to stay away, but Bison didn’t listen to them. He was having too much fun!

The birds and other small animals cried so loud that Great Mother heard them. She ran ahead of Bison and said, “You should be ashamed of yourself!” She hit him on the back with a stick, and Bison hunched up his shoulders and lowered his big head, to ward off another blow. But Great Mother didn’t hit him again. She said, “From now on you will always have a hump on your back and you will always carry your head low because of your shame.”

So this is why Bison has a hump, and why sometimes you see a happy bird or two on the back of a bison. 

 36"x24" Acrylic on Yupo//Available

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Folklore Art,Whimsical Wildlife Coyote Painting "Coyote Spills The Stars" by Painter of the American West Nancee Jean Busse

This is part of a series of 6 paintings based on Native American legends. This painting is based on the legend: Coyote Spills the Stars. Here’s my retelling: 

 In the days of the earth’s beginning, when all creatures came up from the underworld, the Great Mother planned a sacred gathering. In preparation, she filled a jar with a countless number of stars. She selected a human being to carry the jar and place the stars neatly and carefully into the sky.

 Coyote was fascinated with the jar and couldn’t keep away. The Great Mother, knowing how full of mischief he was, admonished, “Stay away from that jar!”

 Coyote being Coyote, he waited until everyone was distracted with the festivities and crept closer and closer. He lifted the lid, just a bit, to take a little peek. When he looked inside, he was so astonished at the twirling, spinning, magical orbs of light that he accidentally knocked the jar over. 

 At first nothing happened and all of the stars stayed inside the jar. Coyote was so relieved! As he hurried to get the lid back onto the jar, it began to pulse, and then hum, and then glow! He was still hurrying, hurrying, when a few stars escaped from the jar and floated gently heavenward. Then the stars began to tumble out, faster and faster, until they were flying out of the jar by the millions, all shooting into the sky!

 All of the creatures at the gathering were astonished. The Great Mother was astonished. They watched as the stars shot crazily into the sky in a disordered, chaotic dance! 

 And this is the reason the stars shimmer and glow with no order or pattern; some here, some there. And why Coyote still lifts his face toward the sky each night and howls with laughter.

The original is 36"x24" Acrylic on yupo.

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Folklore, Raven Painting "Why Raven is Black" by Painter of the American West Nancee Jean Busse

 

 This painting is the 5th painting in a series inspired by Native American legends.
 These works bring me back to my illustration roots. I love painting the visual imagery of a    colorful narrative.

 Native American legends are colorful and full of life and the natural world.
 I paint these uniformly: all are the 36x24 and all are painted on Yupo mounted to gatorboard.  I love indulging my love of detail and "close work.


 The legend that inspired this painting is retold  HERE

 36"x24"Acrylic on Yupo

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Original Wildlife, Bird Painting,"BACK TO BOSQUE" by Nancee Jean Busse, Painter of the American West

 

Bosque del Apache has tremendous draw for bird lovers, artists, and photographers.

The cold December morning wait for the sandhill cranes and snow geese lift off each morning is a beautiful thing.

 24"x18" Acrylic on Board

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Original Wildlife, Bird, Landscape Painting "Cormorants, Drying Their Wings on the Madison River" by Nancee Jean Busse

Cormorants are fascinating; almost prehistoric in their appearance. I discovered this pair while driving with my husband along the Madison River in Yellowstone National Park. Original Available. Prints Available.

  30"x30" Acrylic on Cradleboard/Available

  Fine Art Prints are Also Available

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Original Wildlife Painting "Winter Bear" by Nancee Jean Busse, Painter of the American West

FRESH OFF THE EASEL

When winter is approaching I typically feel the need to immerse myself into a piece that fits the season. I also wanted to try my hand at painting a facsimile of the aurora borealis. The aurora has riveted me with fascination since childhood. It fills me with a sense that the world is full of spectacularly fabulously magical wonder. Because it is!!

12"x12" Acrylic on Canvas Board- Available

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Grand Junction Fairgrounds, "County Fair- The Second" by Nancee Jean Busse

                       

45"x30" Acrylic on Watercolor Paper, mounted to Gatorboard/ Available

$1200

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Original Colorful Fairgrounds Colorado Landscape "County Fair" by Colorado Artist Nancee Jean Busse, Painter of the American West

                                            



Grand Junction, Colorado, has a typically wonderful small town county fair. I loved the bright, circus-like colors of the midway in front of the Bookcliffs. The air was hazy and full of the dust of the bull riding event.

24"x18" Acrylic on Canvas/Available

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Original Wildlife Bird Hawk Art Painting "Rain Dance" by Nancee Jean Busse, Painter of the American West

 16"x20" Acrylic on Board/sold

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Equine, Western Landscape Painting ”SUNRISE ROUNDUP" by Nancee Jean Busse, Painter of the American West

This sunrise roundup occurred in McElmo Canyon near Delores, Colorado.

 12"x28" Acrylic on Board

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Illustrative Art, Birds “Yes, You Too are an Odd Bird- Poster” by Nancee Jean Busse

 

Well now here's a surprise. You have to admit, though, it did take some hubris to spend an enormous amount of time creating useless postage stamps. Of cartoon birds. But, one cold and rainy evening, I curled up with my cup of Earl Gray and my sketchbook and started to draw bright, happy, colorful birds. Before I knew it, I had SCORES of them. Each one made me smile. After I had this great abundance of happy birds, I decided to digitize them. By using my iPad Pro and a kick-ass app called Procreate, I had just as much fun recreating them digitally as I did when I rendered them on paper. The result was this crazy-fun poster meant to emulate a sheet of commemorative postage stamps. Stick a fork in me; I'm done drawing nutty birds for a bit.

24"x18" Digital on Paper/Available

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Whimsical Art, Ocean Animal, Contemporary Figure Painting, "Ada Looks Her Best" by Colorado Artist Nancee Jean Busse

 

                                                           


Ada Looks Her Best was inspired by a friend who made the brave decision to find love by getting online and scheduling 30 dates, with 30 different men, in 30 days. What a warrior. And guess what? She found LOVE.


 40"x12" Acrylic Collection of the artist.

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Wildlife, Bighorn, Western Landscape Painting “Sure Footed” by Colorado Artist Nancee Jean Busse, Painter of the American West

 

I live on the high desert floor at the foot of the Colorado National Monument. The Monument is 20,500 acres of towering monoliths within a vast plateau with 6 distinctive canyons. It is host to a lot of wildlife including a growing herd of desert bighorns. While exploring the Monument a few years ago, this beauty gracefully climbed to the top of a rocky overlook and gazed down on us as if he knew he was a thing of power, grace and beauty. Such a lovely and unforgettable scene!

  16"x20" Acrylic on Aluminum Panel/Available

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Colorado Landscape Painting, Western Landscape "Valkyrie" by Colorado Artist Nancee Jean Busse

My husband and I cross from Grand Junction, Colorado to Prescott, Arizona several times a year. It's so beautiful and wide open in the desert! We watched this amazing storm cell march across the wide desert with open mouths. It was full of dark and light clouds, rain, rainbows, whirlwinds, and lightening! What a storm cell bonanza! I've wanted to paint it for a few years, but doubted that I'd be able to do it with acrylic paint. I could glaze and scumble to my heart's content and still not say what I wanted to say. So I resurrected my oils and had at it. The wild and singular force of this beautiful cell reminded me of a Valkyrie; beautiful, powerful, and merciless.

   
  16"x20" Oil on Canvas Board/Available

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Original Equine Painting "If Wishes Were Horses" by Nancee Jean Busse, Painter of the American West

I love painting horses, and wanted to work on a painting with a cheerful palette and disposition. These two lovely horses were sunning themselves in the long afternoon light of Red Canyon Ranch by Moab. It made me so happy to look at them!

This painting is available to purchase at Hold Your Horses! Annual Show and Sale at the Phippen Western Art Museum in Prescott, AZ. 

18"x24"x1/8 Acrylic on Canvas Board

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Original Western Landscape Painting, Wildlife Art, "Narcissus at the Stock Tank" by Artist Nancee Jean, Painter of the American West

 

FRESH OFF THE EASEL

There's a stock tank and windmill on our little western Colorado ranchero. I've seen some pretty amazing things happen at the stock tank. This hawk spent quite a bit of time around the tank on an early fall day last year. She was up on the windmill, walking the rim of the tank, and then catching a glimpse of her reflection and freaking out. It reminded me of the Greek myth about Narcissus, who gazed at his reflection in a pond with such ardor that the gods turned him into a flower, a narcissus, so he could live at the water's edge forever.

 16"x20" Acrylic on Canvas/Available

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Contemporary Western Landscape “The 3 Sisters in the Devil's Garden” by Colorado Artist Nancee Jean Busse, Painter of the American West

12"x12" Oil on Panel

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