Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas!

Martin Grelle is one of my favorite Western artists, he was raised and still lives near Clifton, Texas which is South of Fort Worth. 

## He's spent decades studying

His cowboy and Indian pieces are incredibly accurate historically and painted with such detail that it's like looking back in time when you see one of his paintings.

Here are a couple that I like. These are of Crow warriors but he uses the accurate name for them which is **Apsáalooke.** Everyone uses the term Crow, in fact **they** do too now. But their historically accurate name is Apsáalooke .

>What happened is that when the French explorers first came in contact with the Apsáalooke  they understood that the name meant **"Children of the large beaked bird"** so the French decided that must be the Crow. 

>And that's what they called them. And the name stuck, inaccurate as it was. The Apsáalooke  or Crow nation is located in Southern Montana.


This one is called **Cautious Encounter** and shows two trappers meeting up with several Apsáalooke  warriors.  Can you imagine? 

I'd be pouring sweat and shaking in my boots, not knowing if they were going to be friendly or not. Afterall, trespassing on their land was not taken lightly.

<center>![grelleacautiousencounter_original.jpg](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmYKkFGCpRze8jDwDv2jQKLHr9LcCH67iwmTQg4gaRiPhh)</center><center>[source](https://artcountrycanada.com/grelle.htm)</center>

This one is simply called **Apsáalooke Sentinels** and is self explanatory with two warriors keeping a lookout over their village in case of intruders or enemies.

<center>![grelle-martin-apsaalooke-sentinels.jpg](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmfWpZVeBFkidCkqwu82krMkdnuvcMdVhMckcgA4DypSBj)</center><center>[source](https://artcountrycanada.com/grelle.htm)</center>

Both of these paintings are very accurate and also highlight the expansive beauty of the Montana wilderness. Mr. Grelle is a cowboy who lives on a ranch down in the beautiful oak and cedar covered rolling hills of Bosque County, Texas.

<center>![8f484ab4480843d938eb14340349e7cb.jpg](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/Qmc2CVdqG1U5nZe6YbyEYY4v4xdLeTxjmaeGVBM6GMZPmR)</center><center>[source](pinterest.com)</center>

Martin Grelle, master Western artist:

<center>![image.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmZoggwFvvjJ9vc7sjgUaQF9aTjczanURMzCK4AemKS7Vc)</center><center>[source](https://cowboyartistsofamerica.com)</center>

One of the things I like about him the most....he works tirelessly to help other struggling and new artists by consulting with them and giving them help to get started and his local art gallery conducts classes and training. He does Texas proud!

![a0esw215rr.png](https://img.esteem.ws/a0esw215rr.png)
 
Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy
Texas

**PS-**  I'm getting ready to start a new series on Frank Hamer, the famous Texas Ranger lawman. It's not an Old West story but he came right after that period when it was still pretty wild.

So far I'm blown away by his amazing life and I think it'll be a fine series if I can do him justice.

<center>![uvsylyennv.png](https://img.esteem.ws/uvsylyennv.png)</center> 

<center>![l1xgphrt5d.png](https://img.esteem.ws/l1xgphrt5d.png)</center> 

<center>![ak059z170l.png](https://img.esteem.ws/ak059z170l.png)</center>