It is my firm belief that choosing the right frame for a painting can do much to enhance the experience of a viewer.  Frames, like windows and doors, are “in-between” places – portals that serve to connect. The perfect frame is a compelling invitation for the viewer to step through from the everyday world into the artist’s vision.  So much importance do I give to frames, that for some of my paintings the frames are of my own design and actually form an integral part of the work. Harvest,  the two-panel painting on which I am currently at work, is a case in point.

Structurally the frame unites the separate panels as does the image of the feathered serpent, Palulukang, that flows from panel to panel. Thematically, every element in both paintings and frame refer in some way to the centrality of the sacred corn harvest in Hopi spiritual life.

The frame for Bear Magick is likewise an integral part of the piece. The carvings in the corners replicate petroglyphs that echo the rock art depicted in the painting. The wonderful bear at bottom left was especially important.   Without that frame my vision for the painting would not have been complete.

In addition to designing my own, I am always keeping an eye out for the beautiful vintage frames that can sometimes be found in antique and even second-hand stores.The frame for The Corn Maidens Return  is one I found a few years ago in a Tucson antique store.  Formal and traditional, and yet its exuberant golden glow just somehow seems the perfect staging for the Maiden’s dramatic homecoming.

I like to work on several paintings at a time.  I think it keeps things fresh, moving from painting to painting.  And most importantly, it allows me to step back from a work and gain perspective on how things are developing, rather than rushing ahead into what could be artistic disaster.  So while still working on the diptych Harvest I also began work on other paintings, one of which is Koyangwuti,  who has been calling out for my attention.  Koyangwuti  or Spider Old Woman  is a figure much beloved by the pueblo peoples.  In one Hopi legend it is Spider Woman with Tawa the sun god, who creates the world with their thoughts.  It is she who taught the Hopi to plant, weave, and make pottery.

Here is her painting in process with a great deal of work yet to be done. However, there is already a frame that has been waiting for her for a very long time.  It is one of three that I found at Southeastern Salvage in Chattanooga many years ago.  I was sure that someday those three frames would be perfect for paintings not yet imagined.  And finally one of them was, simply with the addition of a single golden spider.

I love frames.

Mitakuye Oyasin finally complete

I have loved Lakota shields ever since seeing them in Western museums . So when I began playing around with the idea of incorporating a three-dimensional element within a painting, a Lakota shield came quickly to mind. The theme of Mitakuye Oyasin followed soon after. As explained in a prior post Mitakuye Oyasin is a Lakota phrase that can be translated as All my Relations – a reference to the sacred interconnectedness of all life on Mother Earth.

The 30″ X 40″ birch panel, done in the playful style of a hide painting, features representatives of the winged (ravens), the two-legged (bears – as they often walk on two legs like humans), and the four-legged (horses and buffaloes.) The concept of Mitakuye Oyasin actually includes all of creation – mountains, rivers, trees, elements, etc. But I decided to content myself with animals on the panel and a representation of humanity painted on the shield.

Traditionally a Lakota shield requires a vision, and I certainly needed one. How exactly should I depict humanity? A few ideas floated in my head, but nothing seemed to jell. Finally, after a sleepless night of focused receptivity, a very specific vision came to mind.

Hand prints appear often in rock art, and are generally considered to be symbolic of mankind. I saw that I was to paint four hands for the four sacred directions and their associated colors. Black/West. Red/North. Yellow/East. White/South — colors that are also representative of the races of man. The four hands reach toward the Sun in its bright blue sky — the Sun that represents Great Mystery, the origin of All, and in whom all are truly one.  From the moment it popped into my head, it just felt right; and the painting of it went well.   And just today, while doing a bit of research, I discovered Nahko and Medicine for the People.   I had never before heard of this musical group, but I soon found myself listening to the song Mitakuye Oyasin from their 2014 album On the Verge.  And this is what I discovered within the lyrics:

…Wakan Tanka
Skan Skan
Something holy
Moves here on the land
It is my brothers’
And my sisters’ hands…

Wow!

Snow in Louisiana !

Progress on Mitakuye Oyasin — All my Relations was delayed due to an unusual South Louisiana snowfall.  The accompanying ice, which lasted for days, made crossing the patio to get to the studio prohibitively hazardous.   No sense in risking another fall.

After the melt I got to work finishing the buffalo and moving on to the bears.  This is where the panel stands now.

Seems like pretty slow progress, I know.  Except that while waiting for the ice to melt from the patio, I had an idea for another painting.  And once back in the studio, though dawdling over the Mitakuye Oyasin animals, I was nevertheless speeding ahead with my new idea.  Below is the completed painting in its glorious vintage frame :  The Corn Maidens Return

Both the Zuni and Hopi tribes give great honor to the Corn Maidens.  I chose a  Zuni-like representation because I wished a more human rather than kachina appearance for my maidens. Though in Zuni legend there are six corn maidens, one for each of the colors of Zuni corn, I decided for purely artistic considerations to depict four maidens, all of them blue.

The Corn Maidens personify the fertility of a successful planting and the bounty of a good harvest.` In Zuni legend, after the ritual dance celebrating the ripening of the corn, the Maidens, affronted by the lascivious behavior of the tribe’s young bucks, escaped their advances by fading away to the sacred Summerland, their white garments becoming one with the dawn mists.   In my painting they are seen as they only once returned, drawn forth by the flute-playing God of Dawn and Dew at the pleading of the village elders.  For all the years after it has fallen to  the village maidens to represent them in the Corn Dance, traditionally when the new corn is a foot high.

Over a year ago, shortly after my last post, I had an accident – a surrealistic experience in which my shoe caught on a rug. The shoe, a flip-flop, stopped dead. I didn’t. With an energy that seemed all out of proportion, I flew across the room into a solid cypress door. The impact split the humerus bone in my left arm vertically into two blade-like pieces. My right kneecap cracked when I hit the floor.

That’s my excuse for being so long away. I hope you’ll agree that it’s a fairly good one. I’m very much better now, if not completely healed, and back in the studio working. Today is my birthday, so it just seemed like a good time to finally revisit my blog.

Artwise, I’m working on several new Western-themed pieces in anticipation of a submission to an upcoming exhibition.  I have until May to get the pieces finished, which may seem like a lot of time, but isn’t really.

Above is one of the paintings I’m working on —  Mitakuye Oyasin – a 30″ X 40″ birch panel done in the style of a plains Indian painting on hide. Mitakuye Oyasin, is a Lakota phrase that translates as All My Relations. Its meaning is a prayerful acknowledgement of the interconnectedness of all life on Mother Earth.  The animals depicted represent the two-legged (bears who often walks on hind legs are considered akin to the two-legged humans), the four-legged, (horses and buffalo), and the winged (ravens.)

So far, the horses make me smile. And I’m really happy with how closely I was able to match the painted background to the actual hide that I will be using for a planned three-dimensional element.

Now, if only the buffalo will cooperate.