From the Painting Guide: I'm afraid until I read your artist's statement, I'd thought those were three old dears, wearing coats, with sun hats on, at some viewing point just after they'd doddled off the tour bus. Now I see three figures wrapped in blankets, but I'm afraid I still don't identify them as Native Americans. But I've a feeling a lot of the detail has been lost in the photo – blues and purples tend to reproduce badly.

The way the figures and the dark edge to the background blend together eliminates any feeling of distance behind the figures, so the left-hand side of the painting has a sense of depth, while the right-hand side seems flat.