Dawn Boy-

Adobe Sun

Each time I create art, it has to tell a story...and I created this piece a long time ago, its part of the collection I call Mystic Canyon and in Mystic Canyon ponies can fly over magic mountains jump over rainbow bridges...I often feel that art is guided by the Spirit from within us, and I always look for the meaning or the "story" of each one, this one Adobe Sun, came out and had no story to tell me, but I knew it was there and eventually I would find it and I did- how stunning it was to me when I discovered this story/Legend...and if you look at the entire collection you will see how fitting it is, the first piece I did that inspired this collection was this one I called it the Buttes Pony, I did this one in 2005..and I found the legend the story to go with it YESTERDAY 2009!..

We have so much to learn and learning from -ones- who have been on this planet longer than us- to me- makes sense...there is Greek Mythology, there is Biblical Mythology and the list is endless...many of the lessons are the same just told in a different way by a different story teller...

Just as Moses went up the Mt. to bring back the commandments so did Little Dawn Boy...

Opportunity knocks but we dont hear it...every day is an opportunity to walk the rainbow trail...or walk a different path a chance to go to the places we fear, sneak past the monsters guarding the gates where we wish to go, face the differences that tries to stop us, we have to go beyond it, reach around it, play tricks on it and then welcome what we find..just as the Navajo legend of Little Dawn Boy tells us of his bravery and how he keep on his path.... he trekked up the purple mountains and to the white cliff and spoke to the Great Chief of all Magic, and the legend goes...

...all that day, and the second, and the third, he traveled, and early on the morning of the fourth day he climbed to the summit of the purple mountain. But still far off and high among the clouds towered the white cliff, and around its top flashed the red lightning.

But Little Dawn Boy was not afraid. He scattered more pollen on his trail, and began to sing his magic song:-

"Oh, Pollen Boy am I!
From Red Rock House I come!
With Pollen of Dawn on my trail!
With beauty before me,
With beauty behind me,
With beauty below me,
With beauty above me,
With beauty all round me,
Over the Rainbow Trail I go!
Hither I wander, thither I wander,
Over the beautiful trail I go!"

on his return with gifts for the people....

And there he saw his people waiting for him. And joyfully they welcomed him, and spread a magic buckskin for him to sit upon. And he related all his adventures, and gave them the many good gifts that had come from the House of Evening Light.

And ever since that day his people have sung the magic song of Little Dawn Boy:-

"With soft rains above us,
With sweet flowers below us,
With white corn behind us,
With green plants before us,
With pale mists all round us,
Over the Rainbow Trail we go!
Hither we wander, thither we wander,
Over the beautiful trail we go!"

As each day breaks it is the legend of Little Dawn Boy being told over and over.

I found this legend here
:Native American Indians

The Mittens and the Moon, 9/11/2009
Monument Valley 

Photoshopped Moon in from another shot..

Ancient Art Connection

                            Ute Panel Thompson Springs

Last year I took a trip to Utah. Prior to that I was visited by the desire to create art that reflected what I thought I would see there. In my mind I thought of the wide open spaces first of all and secondly the red sandstone. Thinking more of the history of the west I thought of the anicent civilizations that once lived in these areas, the natives and their early attempts at communication, mainly the Rock Art. Thinking about all this got me excited about the art petroglyphs and pictographs. One is carved into the stone then colored and the other is simply drawn onto the rock. I did get an opportunity to see this art up close and personal...and honestly It felt good. The land is so spiritual that it gets into you right away or at least it did me. I must have taken over 800 photographs!..I was just as excited to visit a rock shop in Moab and the Arrowhead Motel where my hero John Wayne stayed when he was in the area working on one of the many films he starred in that were filmed out on the huge range. The two big parks there...Arches, and Canyonlands are vast and wonderful...so much to see there. This is the collection of drawings I created with the Ancient Civilizations of our own South West in mind. After visiting these areas up close I realized I had connected in some with an ancient artist guiding my hand.

My art below was inspired by Ancient Drawings left behind for us to find and decipher!

  

                                                     Thompson Springs, ghost town

Like the Buffalo

I awoke this morning yelling "no"...I was frozen in place as the warm blankets of my bed were slowly lifted by a hand- a fake hand- attached to a long wooden stick...covered by a long sleeved white shirt. The hand of man...

I had dreams all night long, ones I don't recall except for the arm,...and when I finally gave up and tried to open my eyes, my brain felt like mush. Cobwebs crept in and covering each hemisphere with a dull numb feeling of unawareness. When finally I allowed my feet to dangle over the edge of my bed, the blood rushed down to fill my legs and toes, and I slowly rose and stood upon them. The floor under me felt solid, but cold as if I was surrounded by a fake world, one foreign to me, like a false set in old western movie where only the building facades are real... and behind the scenes 2 x 4's are nailed haphazardly in place to keep it sturdy and level. A set, a spot where I would be for only a moment in time, then suddenly it faded to black and then to surreal and then to real.

Such an odd awakening, brought from slumber to a strange world where I have never been...awakened in a new way. The numb brain has been hanging with me for a while now. I have been unable to put words into phrases let alone complete sentences that could be understood. Ive been accepting words rather than sending them out on a trailing wind in hopes that somewhere an open ear will accept them and from the ears they will find their way to the mind & heart. The diaphragm moves and lungs expand taking a fresh breath and the moment is filled with enlightenment and a bright warmth fills the air and illuminates someone else's spirit path...the light burns bright and the knowledge is accepted, taken in cherished and passed from one to the other, to the next and so forth and so one for all eternity.

Somewhere a dusty plain a new buffalo calf has hit the ground covered with the blood of life along his trip through a mother's womb...he will make his first meek call to her and she will reply as he trembles to his feet seeking the life's milk that she has waiting for him. With each pull on her teat he will gain knowledge, the knowledge of life will pass from one to the other. He will see the journey end to end in his little calf's world. Each sun that rises will make him stronger and he will grow and in his big bony head he will carry all the wisdom taught to him by his mother and her mother before her, and hers before that and on and on until the beginning of time...

I want those memories, like the buffalo on the snowy plains, rambling around in a seemingly dumb stupor, pawing the Earth for tidbits to nourish his body while his "self" contains the secrets of the universe, locked away in the recesses of a mind mankind is unable to communicate with- he holds...un-given knowledge, the knowledge of survival in the world that comes, as the one that went before us. He seeks only grass to eat, water to drink, and to live to the day when its time for him to mate he will pass with his seed the knowledge, the necessary thread to his survival and the survival of his kind.

"Go in peace my brother the Buffalo, spread your seed and grow your herd, for the times they are 'a coming, when you will need the knowledge to keep you on this Earth."

Walking my Spirit Path one day at a time.

I finally made it to Hancocks and purchased some of my fabric!...IT is so pretty...they did a fabulous job of printing it. I got enough to make and line this new bag for myself...my old one is worn out!..The ladies in the store were excited to learn about how fabric is made, the design process and what all is involved!..This shot is a bit fuzzy, but that's me with 3 of my designs spread out there...and thats the bag I created using the one I call Wild Spirits!..Soon CHI CHI will be in stores. I did some free lance work on a Christmas line, this is not a license item so it wont have my name on it anywhere...It will be part of a fat quarter for the next season. I hope to be making more designs for my lines soon.

Picture Perfect Texture

Picture Perfect-Texture

Last December I spent some time staging some still life photos...its was a fun project and this is one of my favorites from that endeavor. These are some of my favorite textures.