This is a beautiful Lakota Sioux ledger drawing by Merle Locke. The drawing is on older used ledger paper. The ledger paper has a date at the top of April 1939 on the front on the back the date is July 1938. Merle's date of the drawing is 96. The ledger drawing is 7.25 inches tall by 9 inches wide.

While studying art history Merle was inspired by the details that were depicted in each art piece that recorded historical accounts. He found that a lot of the work was done on ledger sheets. The ledger drawings were done at a time of complete culture shock , but out of this dark period beauty still shined among the Lakota. The Lakotas were given ledger sheets with colored pencils and ink and on these ledger sheets the people recorded historical events and personal war accounts.

In true Lakota tradition Merle catches the spirit of bravery on ledger sheets that date back into the eighteen hundreds. All of his warriors are carrying a coup stick rather than a bow and arrow. Since among the Lakotas it was more honorable to touch the enemy than kill them. In each contemporary art piece that is depicted, Merle catches the traditions and meanings of these original designs. He enhances the designs with bold colors to emphasize the significance of what the designs stood for. In each drawing Merle tells you the history of the Lakota people.