Cool frosty morning.

Cool frosty morning.
This is a pastel painting on 100% cotton paper Stonehenge warm white. 12x17 . This is done with Schmincke,Art spectrum Sennelier ,and Blicks soft pastels. With Nupastels and pastel pencils .

I see you

I see you is a pastel on paper Beautiful wolf..

This is a pastel painting on 100% cotton paper Stonehenge  warm white.  12x17 . This is done with Schmincke,Art spectrum Sennelier ,and Blicks soft pastels.  With Nupastels and pastel pencils  .

Last Glow of the Day

I saw a picture of a sunset that inspired me. You could hardly see the lower part of the sunset. Artistic license  to the rescue . I changed the reference removed some trees and shrubs leaving enough to boarder the sunset with trees.

I need to work on my photography skills a bit the picture is off a bit the yellow is brighter .

This is a soft pastel 11 X 15 on a grey Stonehenge paper 100% cotton .  I used mostly  Schminckie  and Blick soft pastels with some pastel pencils.

Thank you for looking hope you enjoyed it.

High Mountain view

I was looking for some ideas to try . I saw this scene with this sky and  a road with jeeps and people . I really liked the sky distant hills but the jeep and road had to go.Omitted road jeeps added some trees . I enjoyed it and its pretty.

 

 The left is darker than actual . 

This is soft pastels  on Strathmore 400 paper 9 X 12  I used mostly Schminckie  soft pastels with some pastel pencils for grass

Thanks for looking.

Sitting Bull

Sitting Bull is next in my series of famous,notable  and important Native Americans .

Sitting Bulls, Indian name was  Tatanka Iyotake.  Sitting Bull was born  into the Hunkpapa of the Teton Sioux.1830 -1831, in the Dakota Territory in the blackhills and died on December 15, 1890, on the Grand River in South Dakota

He was a  Teton Dakota Indian chief  and Holy man who united  the Sioux tribes  in their struggle for survival . He held a lifelong distrust of white men and  stubbornly determination to resist their domination. Sitting Bull joined his first war party at age 14 and soon gained a reputation for fearlessness in battle. He fought many battles beat George Custer but in the end he was forced to surrender. 

There was a Ghost Dance Movement  that started in the southwest spread to the Black hills  . Sitting Bull allowed this religious movement in his area. This Ghost Dance Movement  worried the Calvary BIA agents. They sent lawmen to arrest Sitting Bull in hopes of preventing an uprising . When Sitting Bull was about to be arrested braves loyal to Sitting Bull protested a fight ensued . Strange as it seems  Sitting Bull Died by the hands of a natives of his own tribe who were working for the government..

Now back to my art. I felt most  references showed Sitting Bull as a Defiant adversary to the white man and his world.  I softened the expression to what I would expect if he was addressing his tribe or family.  For some reason my lighting was off when photographing this on just a tad dark on the top and lower right .

This is graphite on 10 X 15 warm white Stonehenge paper 100% cotton.   Hope you enjoy looking at it I enjoyed doing it.

Mini Shiprock

This is an acrylic painted on a 4"X4"  on primed hardboard.   Shiprock has always been one of the formations I really like. I believe I am going to do some more of these small sizes. I ordered them in to try. I like how the minis come out .  Most paintings view range is 6 ' or greater these look good on a desk 2'-3 '  from the viewer.

Hope you enjoyed viewing it.

Anna

Annie Dodge Wauneka was a very influential member of the Navajo Nation she received honorary Doctorates Presidential awards. She did alot of work to improve the health  of the Navajo people on the Reservation.

In my quest to paint this woman all photos are 20 to 40 years old and was not pleased with most  of the few that are there. I took old poses with with different facial angles. The only colored photo I found I didnt like her red blouse  .  I liked a pose with a smile it appeared as she was 50s in it I tried to achieve a likeness of her in that time frame.

This is the result .

This took a while to do , first the sketch then I painted it in a monochrome of a grey. Then added  the color as glazes on top one layer at a time .  This was with acrylic which dries fast . Trying to make the blouse look like blue velvet was tricky.

This is acrylic on a 16 x 20 canvas

I hope you like it

Southwest Sunset

I saw a photo with the clouds and similar color . I changed mountains foreground and mid ground . I tried to use a mountain range outline from southern New Mexico.

This is a pastel painting on 100% cotton paper Stonehenge  warm white.  12x17 . This is done with Schmincke,Art spectrum Sennelier ,and Blicks soft pastels.  With Nupastels and pastel pencils  .

Afternoon storm over Chimney Rock

This sandstone monument is north of Shiprock New Mexico and just southwest of  Cortez Colorado  .  It is on the northeastern  end of the Navajo Reservation. It is an interesting rock formation.   Drove by it hundreds of times over the years.

 I have not heard any stories or myths with this sandstone monument but there maybe . 

If your familiar  with the area what direction is this view ?

This is a pastel painting on 100% cotton paper Stonehenge  warm white.  12x17 . This is done with Schmincke,Art spectrum Sennelier ,and Blicks soft pastels.  With Nupastels and pastel pencils  .

Winter night in Monument Valley

This little one is a based on monument valley . A bit of artistic license  ,  I like it.  It gets a few snowstorms there. This I see as  a family in a lone hogan weathering out a rare winter snow fall.

This is my second painting on primed masonite .

This is acrylic on primed masonite 4" X 4"

Golden Morning

This inspiration for this painting was a photo of foggy sunrise not sure of where but I liked the colors and idea. I added fence and changed the tree from a almost dead tree to a thriving one.

This is an acrylic on canvas 8 1/2  X  11

Geronimo " one who yawns "

 Geronimo  " one who yawns " was my next  endeavor . Him being a legend it was a must for me to draw him. Loved, feared, and hated he fought a long hard battle against the Calvary .  His tenacity in his war deserves respect.

The use of the name while jumping out of a plane or a charge came from his exploits like rushing a group of men armed with guns while only carrying a knife and winning.

The next 2 paragraphs are not my writing but from the linked web site.

Geronimo was the leader of the last American Indian fighting force formally to capitulate to the United States. Because he fought against such daunting odds and held out the longest, he became the most famous Apache of all. To the pioneers and settlers of Arizona and New Mexico, he was a bloody-handed murderer and this image endured until the second half of this century.


To the Apaches, Geronimo embodied the very essence of the Apache values, aggressiveness, courage in the face of difficulty. These qualities inspired fear in the settlers of Arizona and New Mexico. The Chiricahuas were mostly migratory following the seasons, hunting and farming. When food was scarce, it was the custom to raid neighboring tribes. Raids and vengeance were an honorable way of life among the tribes of this region.

 http://www.indians.org/welker/geronimo.htm

He surrendered hoping to return to his homeland he spent time in a Florida prison  and in Oklahoma but never was able to return to his homeland .  


But what is not written about  by many narratives is his war for freedom and vengeance started with Mexico . His Mother, wife and 3 children were killed by Mexican troops . This  transformed  a trader into a warrior over night.

Villain or Hero its your decision.

This is a composite drawing of him. the headdress is from one old photo of him but younger and his likeness from another when he was old. The expression I really liked  but he was wearing a bolder hat and suit just didn't suit me for this.

This is graphite and charcoal  on 11X15 Stonehenge paper 100% cotton  the color is kraft.