Sometimes brothers and sisters argue and disagree and it appears that love and compassion is the last thing in mind. Often it requires a serious situation for us to realize there are few things more important than family. This small oil painting is called "A Brothers Protection" and it depicts a real Lakota brother and sister. His father has just given him his new rifle and told his son to protect his sister in the dangerous wild west.
The making of A Brother's Protection was a family project. The two pictured in this painting are siblings and in fact, they the children of Zola Greene. Zola is a Native American model that travels across the country posing for western artists and photographers like me. At the photo shoot, I saw Zola's daughter enjoying her feet in the cool water on a hot summer day. We posed her brother behind her and this concept was born.
This is the beginning stages where I am using pencil and charcoal to begin the process:

Here, I am adding oil paint to get a feel of what colors I will use:
