The Mother Goddess

The Mother Goddess is the Divine Connection of the Earth and the Moon to the Universe.  She is the keeper of our planet and the natural satellite of our Solar System.  Before the invention of the telescope, man just knew of the Moon - a round mysterious object that people would gaze up to in the night sky and the Day Moon, as well.


The Celestial body, the Goddess holds both the Earth and the Moon both of which are connected in to each other.  The moon has a noticeable effect on the earth in the form of tides, but also affects the motion and orbit of the earth.  


This painting is the second in the series I am currently creating in the Mother Earth series.  I felt that mention of the moon important in this work.  The Goddess looks at the viewer.  Her expression is knowing.  There are stars in the picture, the constellation Orion, Leo, and the jewel of the sky Venus.  Known in ancient times as the morning star and evening star.  


The goddess is a watercolor painting.  The backround is hand rubbed acrylic metallic paints giving the painting a patina as.  The work was created after the first of the year completed today, January 5th.  I imagine the sky to be many colors so in creating the painting I've used the various colors to create this piece.  

My People, My Land

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.  

The Universe Goddesses

The Universe Goddesses is the first picture in my Mother Earth series of work that I am currently working on.  It started out with an idea of the times of the day.  The mysterious night, the in between of dawn and dusk of the day and the light of the day.  The first goddess is one with the night she is partly covered by the night.  The second is beginning to see the change in herself with the start and end of the day.  The third balances the earth and life on the planet.  From her springs the life on Earth.  She carries the planet and walks the earth with her creatures.  

This picture contains sheet music, stamps, papers, watercolor pictures and acrylic paint.  They are combined to create the composition.  The painting was created recently during personal transition for me and my family.  I personally love the mystical and the color of life.  Adding each element to the painting is the fun of the work.  I hope you enjoy this series of work.

Golden Double Eagles

After spending the weekend in Santa Barbara, California with our friends, we drove back to San Luis Obispo via of Los Olivos, Santa Ynez and the Foxen Canyon road.  On the drive I noticed 2 Golden Eagles and a hawk flying away.  With the sight of eagle, I am always inspired as Eagle is my totem.  To see 2 of them was true inspiration.  Double Eagles are very symbolic in ancient times mostly one eagle with 2 heads. 

There were quite a few deer sightings and even 2 wild turkeys that day.  The autumn in the Central Coast region is beautiful with that feeling of fall and the smells of change in the air.  Change is always good and inevitable.  I decided to paint this acrylic in my sketchbook to use as future reference material for paintings. 

The day before at the Santa Barbara zoo, we saw a young juvenile outside of the fence on a pole looking into the caged bald eagles that had been rescued and now part of the exhibit.  Also were condors, the first I've seen. 

Eagle is the sacred messenger, carrying our prayers to the Creator and returning with gifts and visions for the people.  Golden Eagle flies higher than any other bird and, in many traditions, is the spirit keeper of the East, from whence comes dawn and illumination of the darkness.  If Eagle has blessed you with its presence in some way, you are being given potent gifts of clarity and vision to use for the good of all people.  You can bring forth light out of the darkness.

Whispers of Spring

In "Whispers of Spring" there is a a symbol of the 2 ladies in one that reoccurs in my work. I am very fond of this image.  To me, it expresses much.  It is the woman that we all are with at least 2 faces.  She faces herself her true self and her imagined self.  We all have many faces we present to others and our self.  Spring is the season of renewal.  The weather changes as does our life.  Personally, this has been a season of much change in my own life.  But with Spring there is always the hope of change, the growth of leaves, flowers and birdsong.  All of which are in this painting. 

I have this painting hanging in my studio as I am reminded of the strength and weakness we all have within ourselves.  It is layered with papers and paint which glaze through to produce many colors in the work.  There are the 3 watercolors, the mirror image of the woman, the flower in full blossom and the bluebird singing in the sunshine.  We have the sound of the birds throughout the day with their brighter colors of spring with longer days and more sunshine. 

Are we whispering the songs on the wind?  Sometimes is that what we hear our own true voice?  

Angel of the Evening

There is an ancient town in the hills of Italy.  Below the town are the Greek ruins of a temple.  In the evening as the sun sets, the people feel they have been blessed by a special gift.  It seems that as the sun sets, they all feel a connection to each other.  They walk the main street, stop at sidewalk cafes for a visit and a drink together.  The children run and play together and the adults visit and sit at the outdoor cafes talking about the days events.  Teenagers get together, talk and walk in groups.  Everyone knows one another and they share stories of their day and  life together in the town.  They have been friends for many generations these families.  Sometimes they share a meal.  There is music and laughter in the air and the wonderful smell of food.  This is their social life.  Is it the Angel of the Evening that keeps watch over them?  They share happiness and sorrow. 

I wanted to paint a picture of an angel that appears to float across the landscape.  The warm colors of the beginning of dusk with the bright colors of the evening.  There is for me a love of the temples from ancient peoples.  It seems that they are always in a very spiritual spot and when you visit these sites, you get the feeling of a guardian, presence of spirit, the transcending of human understanding.  They are always beautiful places and I wanted to capture that in this painting.  I love the old with the ancient in the towns of Europe.  I imaging the torn sheet music to be steps to the ancient temple.  On the lower left hand corner is a ghost image of a woman and a man.  They appeared in the work as I painted. 



Chaos

Chaos, was the first picture I painted when I started this series of work for my show this March.  The interesting element in this painting is that the reaction of the viewer is either love or hate.  There are quite a few people that have viewed this painting that are very facinated by it.  The inspiration for the work was an article I read in Vanity Fair magazine about Peter Max, the pop artist.  His work is very colorful using many primary and secondary colors.  It was the first that I did in mixed media for this project.

I had this canvas at the cabin and started the painting with the sailboat image.  I painted in a backround and used tissue paper in the work.  It sat on my easel for about 4 months.  When I returned I looked at the work and it was really boring.  It had the holy card of "Our Lady of Guadalupe and was to be a vision looking out a window.  However, I started with the colors and couldn't stop myself.  I like abstract expression and the feel of the pure color in this work.  It has layers built up with paint and papers. 

During my show in the Gallery, I put the painting in a prominent spot.  Walking up the stairs, it was an image that attracted people to engage themselves in the work.  Watching people looking at this painting was really interesting.  With this work the emotion was either love or hate.

Now that my work is home, this one I am hanging in my hallway.  

Yesterday was life drawing open studio at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art.  I sometimes refer to it as a "class" but it isn't.  Life drawing is a group of artists that get together to draw a live nude model.  In this case, Jessica, one of my favorite models.  She is a beautiful woman and one that I have a connection with.  This painting was a 25 minute work.  Some of the other stuff in the session was great.  We work for 3 hours with a break.  There is great music and the studio manager, Dona, a treasure.  So, this is "hot off the press."