Old photos can be a great source of inspiration for artwork. This piece was done in color pencils and is copied from a Curtis photo. As I started to sketch this young Native American girl, I began to look at the details of what she is wearing and the papoose she is holding. It seemed like she must have dressed specifically for this photo and that the papoose she is holding must also be of special meaning. Because the photo is brown and tan, I had to imagine her in color. As I began to go from a sketch to the color pencils the colors seemed to appear from that old sepia photo, and she began to come alive. She is just a young girl captured in that moment in a world that was about to change forever. As with many of my drawings of things from a time before, I always wonder about the whole story. What became of her? Did she eventually have children and carry them in a papoose? Are some of her descendants alive now? Do they still keep this photo to remember their beautiful great, great grandmother? Many of the more famous photos from this time are the great warriors. Because Curtis was trying to document a vanishing culture his photos show all aspects of life in the Native American communities at the time. I found this little girl to be such a charismatic draw to the past.
Lakota girl is a colored pencil drawing by Llona Ney Jensen. It is not for sale or reproduction. View other colored pencil drawing on ArtworkbyLlona.com
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