At the advice of my sister, I decided to post this page from my sketchbook. I did it October 2nd while we were staying in Los Angeles while Bruce was in the hospital at the VA.
The inspiration for this sketch was from a face of a man I sketched while waiting in the hospital. He is all of us in a sense because we are all people of the land, the earth. We are all caretakers of the planet. He, dressed in white in the colorful surroundings of the world as he sings his song of freedom. Is he free from illness or oppression? Is he celebrating a recent victory? Or is he standing to march for something he believes in? The point is he, this man is celebrating a freedom.
In 1854, Chief Seattle of the Puget Sound Suquamish tribe solemnly handed over his territory and his people to the sovereignity of the United States. this speech he gave serves as inspiration to all of us with our relations to each other and to our land.
"Teach your children what we have taught our children, that the earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit on themselves. This we know: the earth does not belong to man-man belongs to the earth. This we know. all things are connected like the blood that unites one family. All things are connected."
-Chief Seattle
It seems that this sketch as it evolved from my mind with inspiration will be part of the Mother Earth series. Perhaps the father figure needs a place of importance in this body of work.