Artist's notes...

cold and snowy January afternoon. It focuses on two hunters on snowshoes who have been out all day looking for game. I wanted them to look cold and tired. To enhance the frigid atmosphere I used a vibrant shade of blue to simulate the luminosity that sometimes seems to radiate from patches of fresh fallen snow at nightfall. I did not want the painting to be altogether bleak; after all, the hunters had worked hard and managed to catch a wild turkey. Contrasting color is sometimes an effective means of communicating temperature differences, so I painted the longhouses bathed in the red-orange glow of some unseen campfire. The warmth of the light exaggerates the conditions of the cold winter night and also promises the men a reward for their work. By placing the source of the light outside the image area the viewer is encouraged to imagine the rest of the scene. In the final painting I added a female character. She is concerned and has been waiting for some time. Upon noticing the returning hunters, she excitedly announces their return to the rest of the camp.

This is not a painting that deals with the spiritual life of the Iroquois. It does however, attempt to communicate to the viewer the love and dedication people have for each other, which is not diminished by even the harshest conditions. This is a simple truth that transcends time and culture. It is the bridge of human emotion that transports the viewer back to that long ago village overlooking Big Nose. This is the common denominator of the human experience that binds us all together and allows us to imagine ourselves in this painting.