Another painting in my Goddess Series is Spider Woman. I’m not doing the goddess series in any order, other than they way that they come to me; nor do I have any idea how many paintings will complete the series, I’ll let them determine that. This is a great educational process and fantastic artistic journey!

Spider Woman is an important goddess among many southwestern Native American tribes.  Spider Woman is responsible for bringing fire to the Pueblo, Tewa and Kiwa tribes.

For the Hopi tribes, Spider Woman is a creator of the moon, and their  emergence into the world. Spider Woman has the power to give and take life, and is connected to hunting and agriculture.

Cherokee Grandmother Spider brought people the sun and fire. She taught them pottery, weaving, and how to make ceremonial blessings.

The great blessings and history of Spider Woman will not “expire“ and will continue to be a wonderful tradition in Native American culture. Remember to pass on your cultural and family traditions so that they will live on for generations to come!

Work-In-Progress: The Spider Woman painting started out as a graphite sketch, proceeding to mix media including: ink, watercolor, acrylic and finally a light glaze of oil paint! It was a timely process, but so worth the luminosity that cannot be seen on any screen version!

When I think of bravery, women always come to mind.

Women are brave in caring for their loved ones; brave in how they carry out their work; brave in love and war;  brave in transitioning the end of life. Women are the greatest creation in humanity.

Celebrate all women in your life! Learn about how Women’s History Month came into existence (click on link) and Happy Women’s History Month!

Work in Progress is shown below: part of the small and large scale goddesses I’m working on.

Dictionary.com defines the word “perspective” in (7) ways, I chose the following definitions to describe my image viewpoint:

a technique of depicting volumes and spatial relationships

on a flat surface;

a visible scene, esp. one extending to a distance;

the state of existing in space before the eye; 

the state of one’s ideas, the facts known to one, etc.

a mental view or prospect.

P.S. Here is the work in progress:

It is done! What began as night pacing (see my December 6, 2009 blog post); has culminated into the finale.

I am now in that stage where the crescendo has ended. I have the feeling of not being anchored; I am adrift, until I delve into the next project.  Of course, I’ll sketch and create, but it is a different energy than being possessed by a painting screaming to get out!

Sometimes the best way to describe the creative zone, would be mania, crescendo, then an anti-climatic feeling sets in, finally a sadness that it’s over; and then peace,

but…then it starts all over again.

Remember to nurture your body, mind and spirit and being adrift may mean letting go of control.

I want to thank you all who continue to support me, I feel loved. Peace to everyone.

(Mixed-Media/paper – “O’s Totem” – 22″x30″ Copyright 2010 Indigene)

I was in the “zone”, (which is the preoccupation of obsessively creating an image), becoming so strong in my mind’s eye, that I am only freed from the zone by completing the actual work.  I worked days, excessively on this image.

I know that I feel exposed when I show any part of the process to anyone outside the zone of my head.  I am aware that I am exposed.

I took breaks, but it is the night of another day of obsessing over every little piece of it, adding, subtracting, pacing around the work, only stopping to take nature’s breaks, which can be a nuisance when in the creative zone.

It is only when the image is getting near the final stages that I feel I have revealed my subject or an aspect of them in an honest approach.

Some of the details of my Work-In-Progress contain various symbols and snakes are one of them.

Some cultures hold snakes in high esteem while other cultures despised them. There are cultures that associated snakes with medicinal powers or rebirth, such as the modern medical symbol of two snakes wrapped around a staff.

The Judeo-Christian culture does not hold snakes or serpent in a kind light. The biblical tales of the Garden of Eden and the serpent’s role in “tempting woman to trick man into the fall from God’s grace” have contributed to the negative images of snakes in western culture.  This deep rooted cultural biases accounts in part for the widespread of fear and disdain of snakes.  Myths, legends, and folk tales contribute to the misinformation and add to the snake’s negative imagery.

Cultures are as valid as the people who come from them and as with all living entities, there are positive and negative aspects, snakes are no different.

The imagery of the snakes in the details of this portrait embrace the concept of healer, rebirth and revitalization.

I’m sure that this spiritual portrait will be serve as a conversation piece, dependent upon the view or viewers!

After being in the Grand Canyons over the holidays and seeing the majesty of color in those wild canyons, I couldn’t help but use an image of a painting, I made some time ago  of the wilderness (“Kaleidoscope Woods”).

This is how I see the wilderness, a riot of color!

Ahhh…I can’t imagine life without color or the wilderness, it provides balance.

I’m ready for the adventure of “wilderness” this year, I think that translates into adventure. Let’s live life to the fullest!

There is much written about music, and the only thing I can add is, listen to it with gusto, with your heart; your feet are bound to follow.

The beat of a heart is music and so precious, embrace it!

Peace.

(Oil/Wood -24″x24″)

Canvas/Paper Prints are available!

I keep believing in hope and putting my trust in love and praying to God, that the “unbalanced” that plagues my dear ones (cancer) will disappear and the light will hold us and be with us. It is an unbalanced, much like a walk on a tightrope, that I’m finding hard to bear.

I pray for all of you who cope with this and know that hope springs eternal. Peace.

My use of color is an attempt to create my own physical harmony, hopefully, as a way to tap into the resources of mental, emotional and even spiritual energies that sustain me, which enable me to stay sane.

Hmmm…so much for poetic musing! The bottom line is if I don’t color in and outside the lines, I go crazy!

So Viola! the blur of my lines.

(Process: Oil/Acrylic, on Canvas, filtered and blurred in Photoshop)