Fiddler on the Butte

This unexpected marriage of the rugged North Dakota Badlands with a performer facing an unseen audience in a late night concert was a delight to paint. I started this painting when I was an artist in residence in the beautiful tourist town of Medora, North Dakota this summer. 

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Using a landscape photo taken by friend Mike Bruner as my inspiration, I played with the idea of a musical performance happening in the middle of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, rather than in the Burning Hills Amphitheater in Medora.  And since I love Fiddler on the Roof, the cowboy Fiddler on the Butte sprang from my fingertips! These particular buttes were especially suited to palette knife layering.