Panel Finished for Mural Mosaic Project

This is panel 132 for the Mural Mosaic Project, Le Cadeau Du Cheval. This shows the before panel, which I think is the upper hind leg of the horse in the mother image. I did push it a bit, but we were given a 20% margin of darker, lighter or whatever in our creative choices in painting the panel. The theme for my panel is Sitting Bull's horses, Blackie and Bloated Jaw. I did quite a bit of research trying to find out about his horses. I read two biographies, searched endlessly on the web and all I could find was that someone gave him an impressive black stallion which he loved to ride into battle. But Bloated Jaw was considered his favorite mount. He was a sorrel he had taken from a white man. Bloated Jaw was extremely fast and handy in battle and wore the eagle feathers of a good war pony in his forelock. Bloated Jaw had a large lump somewhere on his jaw. After further research I found that the Nokota mustangs of the Dakotas trace their lineage back to Sitting Bull's horses.
The shield in the panel is a representation of Sitting Bull's shield. The image on it was given to his father in a vision. The shield was passed down after his death and there are actual drawings of Sitting Bull riding one of his ponies into battle, carrying this shield. Sitting Bull was a Medicine Man, a peace loving, family family who was considered one of the greatest chiefs of the Sioux. He was a Hunkpapa Sioux Chief who wanted to keep his people's land for his people to survive on. He was not war hungry for the sake of war with the white man. The Black Hills was a sacred place for the Sioux, the white man wanted it for the gold and the land. The story is long and heartbreaking with many deaths on both sides. Maybe we can learn something of value from the past, about our human nature, the depth of human spirit and go on as better people on our journeys. Not to repeat the past. We are at a time where we all need to reevaluate our lives and how we can move forward to make a saner world and leave a liveable earth for our children and grandchildren. I believe there are many lessons to be learned from other tribe's, other people's across the planet. Some of these are very simple yet so hard to acquire. We must learn to live with each other, to live with less and leave little damage behind us. To honor each other's lives. There needs to be a healing on this land for all the people's.