Little Bighorn Valley - Colored Pencil Drawing

"Little Bighorn Valley" Colored Pencil

It’s springtime on the northern plains and the Little Bighorn Valley is a kaleidoscope of lively colors. From the rim of this lonely overlook, one can review Montana’s remarkable landscape.

Carving a rugged valley within the vast prairie, a winding river comes rushing down out of the big, gray mountains. You can barely catch a glimpse of the water as its concealed by a sprawling forest of cottonwood.

The lush treetops form wavy bands of foliage that are highlighted with lemon yellow. The trees are mostly green and modeled with dark shadows that appear more blue as they recede into the distance.

The sweeping hillside is steeper than it looks as it blends smoothly into the canyon floor. Just below the summit, a small patch of scrubby woodland has found its niche in a crease of earth called a coulee.

Blemishes of sagebrush are stippled randomly throughout the countryside’s quilted patchwork of fresh growth. Flowing across the picture’s foreground, lush grasses steal their color from the rest of the composition.

The approaching storm is nothing compared to the historical drama that haunts this ground’s turbulent past. Once the scene of a bloody battle, this place has healed itself into a peaceful refuge for solemn contemplation.