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After a very busy year of landscape work, I am taking a short break. My earlier elk painting is a diversion as is this Skookum.
I have two Skookum dolls. This one is probably from the 1940's...or earlier. These dolls are not Native American art but rather they were contracted out to "housewives" who assembled them at home. I have not reproduced Native American art,e.g. paintings of Native American artifacts as I believe that is their sacred art. But this kitsch from the last century is another matter...I find it nostalgic and sort of poignant. Imagine all these "ladies" working for "pin money" composing these dolls.
Here is an overview of their history:
Skookum Dolls -
SKOOKUM DOLL HISTORY
The history of Skookum dolls starts with Mary McAboy filing two applications for patents for a doll or toy figure on November 29, 1913.  The patents were granted on February 17, 1914.  One of the applications was for a male and the other a female and in three styles - a male doll, a female doll, a female doll with a baby.

The dolls started to become so popular that Mary McAboy partnered with H.H. Tammen Co. of Denver, Colorado in 1920 to keep up with the demand.  She stayed on and was the head of the Skookum Assembly Division.  The look of the doll stayed the same but some of the materials used to make them changed and plastic and some other materials were used.  They were factory made dolls from the 1920's - 1960's that resembled Native American people and were usually sold in tourist spots
What does the word Skookum mean?
It's a word that originated from the Chinook or Siwash traders of the American Northwest and has a few meanings.  The main one attributed to the Skookum doll is Bully Good! which means very good, excellent or large.  Some other meanings of Skookum are strong, good, brave, tough, best, powerful, ultimate, first rate, cool etc.

Here is a photo of the ranch as it is now. it was built in 1888-1910. My friend's great grandfather quarried the rock for the foundation and siding. The The rock is tuff...a rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption.

If you are in Bend Oregon, some of the older houses were also made of this material. I marvel at the ingenuity of the early settlers in adapting to the materials that were available.

A friend and neighbor is a fourth generation Central Oregon gal. When she approached me to paint her family's ranch house I had no idea how beautiful the (now sadly abandoned) home would be, nor the drama of the remote valley outside of Paulina.
This was a wonderful experience...the drive, the time on the land, and the opportunity to capture such a special spot.
We decided not to focus on the house itself, but rather the home in relation to the land. This painting is of the house and the original barn. I deleted some newer functional but not very beautiful buildings. If Edgar Payne could move mountains I can move a few utility sheds!

If you want to see the ranch pretty much as it is today go to Wikipedia and enter Roba Ranch. That will give you not just images but the history of this wonderful ranch.

(if you read this post yesterday I misspelled the name of the ranch...it is
Roba....I do encourage you to go to Wikipedia and enter Roba Ranch....the map on that site will give you a perspective on how wonderfully remote this place is.)