watercolor 6/2019
Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened. Don’t open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
………..rumi
watercolor 3 x 5 6/2018
Follow your dreams for they are whispers from your soul.
‘Heart’s Desire’ is a commission that I formed around a previous aceo painting. It is painted slightly larger which gives me the liberty to include more detail. There can only be so much included within a 2 x 3 art card so I like the larger size occasionally.
Aceo Original watercolor
3/2018
The raven in this painting is what is called a ‘Spirit Raven.’ It is found mainly in British Columbia. Very rare bird. I personally love genetically white birds and animals. They seem sacred and of course Native Americans regard the Spirit Raven as sacred.
The common raven has a 4 ft wingspan and is over two feet from head to tail. The raven is often misidentified as a crow – a closely related bird. Ravens are uncommon in populated urban areas. If you see a “really big crow” in the city, the chances are good that it really is a crow and not a raven.
Ravens soar more than crows. If you see a “crow” soaring for more than a few seconds, take another look – it might be a raven. Common Ravens can do a somersault in flight and even fly upside down. Ravens are longer necked in flight than crows.
Watercolor 1/2018 5 x 7
This is just one of so many Native American tales about Raven as well as other animals. I love to read them.
When Raven was killed
Raven had played so many tricks on mankind for so long that one day a great chief decided to kill him. The chief caught Raven unaware and threw him into a large skin bag. Then he began to climb to the top of a steep mountain. Raven asked from inside the bag “what are you doing, where are we going.” The chief ignored Raven. Raven told the chief that bad things would happen if he hurt Raven. But the chief did not listen and finally on top of the mountain, he threw Raven off the mountain. Raven was torn to pieces falling. The chief had killed Raven.
Everyone in the village was happy and they celebrated for days. Then they noticed that all the water was gone. The lakes and rivers were dry. The shaman told them that the water had vanished because the chief had killed Raven. Now the people wanted Raven to come back.
The shaman told the chief that he would have to put Raven back together again. So the chief put all the pieces back together again. Raven came back to life and started to fly away. “Stop” cried the chief. “All the water is gone and only you can return it.” Raven flew higher and said “Look around you, there is water everywhere.”
The chief then turned and saw that the lake was full and that the river ran deep and fast again. As Raven disappeared in the distance, the chief promised never to try to kill Raven again.
Because of his powers and role in their heritage, Natives do not kill ravens.
watercolor 4/2017
‘Raven’s lesson is to walk without fear even if the way is not clear…trust your intuition to guide you.’
As it is with all original people history is recorded through verbal stories. I love the tales from Native American culture because they add to the spirit and mystery of the animals that I paint. I often get lost often reading the myths and that’s how I found this one.
“At one time the whole world was dark. Inky, pitchy, all-consuming dark, blacker than a thousand stormy winter midnights, blacker than anything anywhere has been since.”
“The reason for all this blackness had to do with the old man in the house by the river, who had a box, which contained a box, which contained a box, which contained an infinite number of boxes, each nestled in a box slightly larger than itself until finally there was a box so small all it could contain was all the light in the universe.”
In the story, the old man hides the light because he’s afraid to see whether or not his daughter is ugly. In a ploy to steal the light, Raven shrinks himself to become a hemlock needle in a basket of drinking water so that the daughter swallows him. Soon Raven is reborn from her as a raven/human child. The old man accepts him as a grandson, and soon Raven begins begging that he open the boxes, one after another, each time pleading and crying until the old man yields.
When the old man finally opens the box containing the light, Raven grabs it and flies out of the house—causing light to spread throughout the world and revealing that the old man’s daughter is as beautiful as the fronds of a hemlock tree.
As Raven flies away, Eagle sees him and tries to steal the light, causing Raven to drop some of it, which becomes the Moon and the stars.
watercolor 9/2016
Rumi has some great words about illusion. This one is my favorite because it always makes me laugh.
‘Why struggle to open a door between us when the whole wall is an illusion.’
Yesterday when I was in the parking lot of the Safeway a young woman passed by me wearing a tee shirt with lettering that said ‘Minnie is my spirit animal.’ How great is that!!!
watercolor aceo 1/2016
