When did you last escape from the city lights and experience the night sky in all it’s glory? 
I think we humans are meant to wonder at the vastness and shimmering, stunning, beauty of space….it helps to keep our egos in check. Obviously, by the state of the world, we haven’t been doing enough of that lately. When people lived in tipis and yurts, igloos and hogans, they were in touch with that magnificence in a much more intimate way, enriching their lives in ways that we may have lost.
Category Archives: First Nations People
Starry Night Bison
These days it’
s so dark, and when it’s clear enough there are so many stars, which we we cling to for comfort. For me, the season conjures totemic images surrounded by darkness and light. Today’s painting came with more struggle than usual. Nothing seemed quite right to me till this bison came to mind. A sacred animal of First Nations People, he symbolizes abundance, and yet we see how vulnerable he was to our arrival on this continent. Let us be ever mindful of our power to eradicate even such great power and abundance.
Today’s painting is #600 in my daily painting enterprise, which began on Jan 1, 2010. It feels like quite a landmark, and that’s one reason I wanted to have a more symbolic painting than usual today. I did miss a few days over the 2 years, and sometimes I posted photography, sometimes larger works I was creating, but mostly I managed to do a painting-a-day! 600 paintings and 50,000 hits on my blog really feels like an amazing feat. I truly thank all of you who have come along with me, and I hope you’ll continue to do so. Who knows where this is going?
SOLD
Under A Winter Moon
We recently had another fabulous full moon, and I simultaneously came across a photo I’d taken of the tipis at our annual Aboriginal Days celebration. I woke up this morning with the notion of combining the 2 ideas….probably partly inspired by the long dark nights and the attraction that brings to fire and heavenly bodies.
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Ponies @ Siksika
Often on my travels I like to cross the Blackfoot Reserve at Siksika. The Bow River Valley is so pretty there, and there’s no interruption of the native landscape by crops or oil activity. Often there are bands of horses, which is a real bonus! For today’s painting I thought we needed some tipis as well.
If you’d like to own this original watercolour, email Gena with your bid today! gena03@telusplanet.net Minimum bid $100 (plus gst and shipping). First bid, or highest bid wins the painting.
Story Robe
Those who have been following have heard me going on about trying to be more abstract, and so here’s another direction that one could go with that. Oh wait a minute….this isn’t my art at all! I “borrowed” it from a story robe in the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center in Great Falls. The robe was a gift to the explorers by the Indians of the region, and this is only a small sample of the many many painting on the robe. I love the gesture that is achieved with such elegant and simple lines. To me, this looks like a chief (on horseback…note the headdress) meeting someone from another tribe and offering the pipe. The other person is disarming his bow. What d’you think?
If you’d like to own this original watercolour, email Gena with your bid today! gena03@telusplanet.net Minimum bid $100 (plus gst and shipping). First bid, or highest bid wins the painting.
Summer Camp
Tipis have always been really evocative for me, and having just been to the Lewis & Clark Museum in Great Falls, with so much history there of the First Nations People, they are on my mind more than usual. So today…a summer camp with three pole tipis used by the Cree and Sioux among others.
SOLD
If you’d like to own this original watercolour, email Gena with your bid today! gena03@telusplanet.net Minimum bid $100 (plus gst and shipping). First bid, or highest bid wins the painting.
Buffalo Star Tipi
When I was in Calgary in July showing my work at the Hyatt Hotel, part of their extensive Canadian art collection were some historical photos. This little painting is derived from a sepia-toned early 1800’s vintage photo of a Pikani tipi, depicting a beautiful example of gorgeous design and elegant function.
If you’d like to own this original watercolour, email Gena with your bid today! gena03@telusplanet.net Minimum bid $100 (plus gst and shipping). First bid, or highest bid wins the painting.
Parade Day
Oh how I love painting these guys! How about this beautiful young face…and then there’s the regalia; the designs an absolute delight for the soul. Thankfully many of the old outfits have been saved and some of the young women from the Blood Tribe (and undoubtedly others as well) are painstakingly relearning the design and beading techniques.
Probably, now that Calgary Stampede is over, this young guy has his basball cap, wranglers and a t-shirt back on, but at least he was generous enough to share this version of his history with all of us.
wn this original watercolour, email Gena with your bid today! gena03@telusplanet.net Minimum bid $100 (plus gst and shipping). First bid, or highest bid wins the painting.
Pow-wow Dancer
Now that I’ve finally gained some confidence in my ability to paint people’s faces, I find it to be incredibly satisfying…..and I especially enjoy painting native faces. I saw this handsome guy doing a traditional dance at a pow-wow @ Fort Walsh several years ago and have been waiting for the day when I thought I could paint him. Today was the day.
If you’d like to own this original watercolour, email Gena with your bid today! gena03@telusplanet.net Minimum bid $100 (plus gst and shipping). First bid, or highest bid wins the painting.
Blackfoot on Eighth
Well this guy rode through here yesterday, and he had us all scrambling for our cameras! I enjoyed painting him so much, and you may see him and others from this week’s great festivities, showing up on this blog or my web-site. Maybe some bigger pieces even. I sold this already, and he’s off to hang in a home in Wales. It’s been a lot of fun this week, but we’ll be folding our tents and stealing away in a few hours. Thanks to the Hyatt for hosting us, and to everyone who came by.
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