30.5"x38.5" frame. Sheila Hill is a Taos Pueblo native she graduated from the University of New Mexico where she studied Native American Indian tribes. Sheila later used this knowledge in her art. Before starting her career she worked as a commercial artist and exhibit designer. She discovered her creative artistic talents in 1978, around that time she started experimenting with pastels. This particular pastel painting dates from 1980. "I am intrigued with the beauty and quietness of Indian women. There is an air of innocence about them, a thoughtfulness, that I wish to portray. Gentleness is my theme, for I have entered this world through gentleness and I shall leave it gentle. Encounters I have had are trapped within my drawings. I need go no further than my own thoughts. My drawings are not portraits of real people, but rather portraits of feelings. Using simplicity and softness, I try to capture the essence of my Indian heritage."- Sheila Hill