Montana-New Texas

Cold, mystical West Wind and enchanted water horses from the depths breathe their course that declares me Clan Morrison of the Hebrides. The mystical natures of ink and pencil and the enchantment of canvas echo that I am an artist. As being a Texan, I seek other Texas like states. Montana seems to be that. It is big, open and a border state. (I hear the people on the other side of that border speak English, but a “BEEN” is a lagoon in the US.) (Also, there are several Large Native American Reservations in Montana and no large reservations in Texas which is known for two micro- reservations.) I had a friend from Montana who was a rancher but ended up in Chicago. He once commentated how he was from the frozen Texas. But, He did comment how he left his cows out in the blizzard.  Somehow he never got “yankee-ized.”  The state is known for rodeos also. They are on the reservations. This made the drawing difficult because I did not want to just re-draw “Texas.” I will have to admit I am not looking forward to draw in the snow this winter.

Montana issues a complete and unique mythos and does not contain some blond. Everything is on nothing because the state is known as the big sky country with the dessert being called the “big Empty.”  The flower is the state flower. The branch most things are on is the state tree the Mountain Hemlock. The Black Hills make up the western third of the state making the Great Divide the state’s western boundary. The mountains also give a refuge to the large wildlife during the harsh winters. The butterfly is the state insect Harbinger of Spring or Mourning cloak which is very resilient during the winter. It is symbolic of the vernal renaissance of Montana. The ax is university of Montana’s icon. The Teepee is fior the great Northern Plains Native Americans with the three largest nations in the state are the Crow in the southern and central part of the Flat-head Confederacy in the Rocky Mountain continental divide and the Blackfoot which are on the Canadian border. The Plains Indians Museum is on the Black-Foot reservation. The flat head Reservation is the fourth largest in the country. There is also a bear claw as for the native bears. I drew this picture about a year ago with pencil and white charcoal.

  The name of this picture is “Nobility in Red” and is made recently with Sumi-e and Chinese water colors. It has the four Noble gentlemen of Japanese Sumi-e which are wild orchid, chrysanthemum, (the imperial crest which make Japanese coin artworks) plum blossom and bamboo. In Japanese, something that is “in red” is absolute and complete. But also when an artist “signs” a piece, one does it with red. While Sumi-e traditionally in a grey scale for there is “a thousand colors in grey,” but flowers are the signatures of plants. (I have never seen a bamboo flower.) I did this piece on card stock so I’ll sell it for $25 +shipping. If you are interested in buying this or any other of my pieces, email me at MatthewMorrison76@yahoo.com.