Artist: Nancy Noel
Title: Sitting Bull
Framed Size: 35"x 38"
Medium: Fine Art Giclee on Canvas
About The Art: “It was one of my strangest experiences as an artist,” says Nancy Noël about painting her portrait of Sitting Bull.

While traveling to Africa of all places, Nancy had come upon some meditations written by Sitting Bull, the infamous Sioux tribal leader who defeated Colonel Custer at The Battle of the Little Bighorn. Taken with the beauty and truth of the writings, their contemporary relevance and prophetic knowledge, she knew that she would eventually honor Sitting Bull on a canvas. Back home in Indiana, she set up a very large canvas and began to work. The sun was going down as she started a loose drawing. Here is Nancy’s account of that evening: “I began to sketch and paint Sitting Bull’s features. As the natural light in my studio grew dim, I turned on the overhead lights. It was then that— for some unexplainable reason— continuing to paint with the lights on became impossible. Not wanting to stop, I went back to work. INTERESTINGLY, THE DARKER THE STUDIO BECAME THE MORE ABLE I WAS TO PAINT. Even though I wasn’t sure what colors I was using, I started painting rapidly and fearlessly. Within just a few hours, this large painting revealed itself in the dark. Every so often I would turn the lights on, just to see what I had painted. But if I even thought about putting my brush to canvas in the light I was somehow restrained. I could only continue without the lights. It was as if Sitting Bull took control and was saying, ‘let me do this.’” The result was a painting that people couldn’t take their eyes off. It was immediately purchased, and frequent visitors asked if it would be available as a reproduction. Nancy has recently authorized one giclée for a collector in New York City and decided to make Sitting Bull available on request.