The Rebel

In South Dakota last summer, I met a real-deal cowgirl all covered in tattoos and riding in like the devil. Spellbound, I immediately felt compelled to try to capture her on canvas, but I wanted the image to bridge yesterday and today, so I painted her in the garb of a long-gone era. I kept imagining how much harder it must have been for a woman to have a rebellious spirit a hundred years ago – and yet how even then on horseback out on the range she could feel the same freedom that “The Rebel” obviously feels today.