Native American Pigment & Oil Portrait Painting

Native American Pigment & Oil Portrait Painting, “Lakota Joe”, by Nebraska Artist Tim ONeill

This mixed media (pigment & oil) painting portrait has been in the works for awhile and is a part of my Limbo Gallery. A limbo gallery as I define it for the studio practice here is, “a collection of unfinished projects”. I have many of those. I actually really enjoy going back through the limbo gallery and finishing up the pieces I find there. It is interesting, as many of the pieces are those in which I was stuck and just were not fun any longer. While there is merit in following a project through to the end I typically start many different paintings at one time and finish them as I feel good about where each one is going.

I met Joe at a local Pow Wow, I really liked his regalia and asked if I could photograph him to collect reference for painting during the weekend, he agreed so I was able to get several reference images. Joe never did give me his last name, he continuously referred to himself as Lakota Joe so I thought it appropriate to title the painting that way. He was a wonderful man full of energy and he loved to dance. While I don’t know where Joe is today I appreciate the opportunity to meet him, my life is better for it.