Three Eagles was a Nez Perce Chief who wore a war bonnet made of golden eagle feathers signifying courage and honour in battle. Little is known about Three Eagles except that he was an associate of Chief Joseph (1840 to 1904) who led the Nez Perce in their revolt against being forcibly removed from their ancestoral lands to NE Oregon . The Nez Perce tried to treck to Canada where they could receive political refuge. This was an ardious trek of over 1700 miles taking them through many States and many battles with the US Army.
They were not to succeed being defeated by hostille conditions and surrendered on the understanding that they would be allowed to return to their homeland. ( The treaty was not honoured by the US Govt) However the tribes millitary tactics and bravery won over the respect of both the US Army and the citizens of the US.
Incidently the Nez Perce had become the dominant tribe after aquiring horses and bred a breed that would eventually become the Appaloosa Horse.
As mentioned little is known about Three Eagles and I used as a reference the iconic photo taken of Three Eagles as a old man in 1910.
What appealed to me to draw him was although ferocious in battle he was in favour of peace and one amusing story was when he scouted ahead of the tribe and spotted two traders one of whom was a African American. Three Eagles had not come across a black man before and was puzzled as members of his tribe would paint themselves black, red or yellow before going to war yet the 2 traders seemed to be of peaceful intent. After consulting with the elders Three Eagles decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and made himself known to them . The two traders were invited to the tribe where they were given blankets, food and allowed to rest before continuing on their journey.
The first thing that attracted me to draw Three Eagles as an old man was studying the photo taken in 1910 one sees in his face the hardship, suffering and humility yet sgrength of character shown . After all the hardships and battles he had suffered I thought it would be a good idea to pair him with the majesty of a bald eagle and so combining two but different iconic images of America.

THE PROCESS
I used high quality architects ink pens for this drawing employing a stipple method which is applying thousands of small dots by hand to create an image. Tne closer the dots are together the darker the image and the further apart the lighter the image. I apply many layers to create depth and realism and this particular portrait took me over 200 hours to complete.

The Print

The paper used for your print is archival art paper and the inks used are colour fast and light fast thus guaranteeing against fading.

I am extremely fussy when it comes to print quality of my originals ( after the hundreds of hours I put in on a original piece of artwork I expect excellence in print quality ) it took many months of searching before I found a small but specialist art printing company that specialises in offset lithographs who are based hundreds of miles from me but like myself they take extreme pride in their work . It is always a pleasure to watch them at work and see them pouring the ink onto the rollers in the traditional style.

Thanks for viewing and I hope you enjoyed reading this.