Wendigo by Lou Rogers, my mother. Oil on canvas.
A hungry wind was crying ‘round the house last night in bitter cold, tearing the skin off the snow. It put me in mind of this image. My mother painted her vision of the Wendigo at least twice, and I knew its name when I was very small. Her favorite tale of the Wendigo was the literary one by Algernon Blackwood. The Wendigo is a legendary being of Algonquian-speaking cultures. Its name appears in various forms: Windiga, Witiko, Weendigo...