PLAINS ARTISTS

The Plains Indians used paints to adorn themselves, their clothing, their homes and their horses. Though their culture lacked a written languages, the pictures and symbols they drew were rich in meaning and told the stories of the people.

Many different colors of paint were used, originally made with the materials at hand — plants, clays, even duck dung. Reds were by far the most popular color, but early natives used brown, red, yellow, black, blue, green and white as well. With the availability of pigments from white traders, 19th century Indians used other colors as well.

A yellow paint was made from earth from the Yellowstone River, as well as from bull berries and pine tree moss. Blue was obtained from duck droppings found on the shores of lakes, or from blue-colored mud. White earth and clay were used to make white paint. Green was made from plants, copper ore or mud.

The pigments were placed over a fire to dry, then ground into a fine powder on mortars of stone or wood. They were then mixed with tallow. The colors, kept separate in small buckskin bags, were mixed with hot water when the artist was ready for them.

Indian artists painted with straight willow branches (which acted as rulers to draw straight lines) along with short, flat sticks that he or she used to trace a pattern onto a hide. Brushes were made from chewed cottonwood or willow sticks, or from buffalo bone. Each color had its own brush.