Back to Painting

This is one of my latest attempts to portray American Indians of the 1800's, using old black and white photos. I am very interested  in this period and have many books on the subject, most obtained second-hand directly from America via Abebooks. There are also some excellent archive sites dealing with the subject. The best I have found so far is http://www.firstpeople.us/ .

Sitting Bull 16" x 12" Not Saunders Waterford

This is Sitting Bull the famous Sioux medicine man taken in the 1870's. The original is in a sort of sepia/black and white with very strong contrast, not much graduation. So far I've done about a dozen different ones, most already discarded, but hopefully they are gradually improving although  I realise I still have a way to go. Charles Reid is my mentor in that I'm trying to emulate the way in which  he paints portraits.