Horse of a Different Color

“I once read an account of a Cheyenne warrior who painted his body and his horse’s body entirely blue,” says Howard Terpning. “Just imagine the startling effect that must have had on his enemies as he charged them in battle. That description gave me the idea for the title (which seemed obvious). Adding the warrior’s son in the painting felt logical and gave the picture a higher level of human interest. To have listened in on the father and son conversation as this warrior prepared himself for battle would have been something.”

As we made the selection of this painting to reproduce, it occurred to us that this is the first Terpning work we have published that focused so directly on the relationship between a father and a son. It surprised us that there were actually so few paintings he had done on the subject. We think that makes this release kind of special. By the way, Howard’s son Steven modeled for the boy.