Mary Calengor is known for her highly detailed realism painted in oil on linen and canvas.  There is amazing detail in her art along with an intuitive sense of how she captures the light on her subjects.  Her baskets and blankets are among the most amazing of her paintings with incredible detail that is time-consuming to paint.  This painting is entitled, “Navajo Saddle Blanket“.  Mary says of this painting:

This blanket, c.1940, is a twill double saddle blanket used to provide the important extra padding between the saddle and the horse.  The weaving of blankets was almost exclusively performed by women whilst the men were in charge of building the looms.  Navajo saddle blankets were a prized trade item for use on horses but also became popular as rugs and later as art to be hung on the wall.  The pattern and bands of color on this particular blanket are very striking and unique, therefore, it holds its own as a singular subject in this painting.