Bird Women in Watercolor & Archaeomythology

Last night I had the great pleasure of attending a talk by Joan Marler, "The Body of Woman As Sacred Metaphor."

Joan is the founder of the Institute for Archaeomythology, and was the special guest of the Sonoma County Pagan Network.

Her talk was a delicious feast of images & information about goddess statues, mainly from about 37,000 BCE to 3000 BCE, from central Turkey to southeastern Europe.

She described voluptuous female imagery invoking & expressing the source of animal & plant abundance & domestication. Her account was simply the most satisfying version of this rich history I've encountered. I awoke this morning with a new sense of moving within a continuous, unbroken, ancient flow.

Two smaller themes were particularly poignant for me: statues of women & children with bird heads, & owl statues & vessels. These so vividly convey how communion between human & bird was once taken for granted, I feel affirmed in the communion I experience with birds today.

With excitement, I recognize the animal spirits I paint as legitimate actors in the long, ongoing drama of human life playing in company with all sorts of fellow beings. I savor in a new way the work of creating these images.

This one is Bird Grandmother in the Redwood Grove, which flew out of me after a visit to Armstrong Woods. She is a watercolor, about 11" square. After Joan's talk, I feel how she expresses the happiness of being briefly among great beings who endure thousands of years. She is a messenger of our joy among trees.

Changing Woman & the Buffalo Ghost

Changing Woman & the Buffalo Ghost, watercolor, 9 x 10.5", was the second image in the Blue Coyote series, painted in July, 2008.

Last year I watched Dances with Wolves for the first time since 1991. I had thought the buffalo hunt was filmed with a few buffalo, with special effects to make them seem like a huge herd. From the dvd, I learned they filmed that sequence on a ranch with a real herd of 3000 buffalo.

3000 buffalo. I wept.

Not a lot compared to the millions that once swept across the plains, but a miraculous multitude compared to "now the buffalo are gone."

The buffalo are not gone, nor are the buffalo secure in healthy numbers. There are still a lot of ghosts to answer to.

Thunder Woman & Bird Grandmother

I painted this image in a time of severe difficulty. I didn't intend to depict a rock & a hard place, but there it is.

The story that this Blue Coyote series illustrates often gives the sense that spirit & animal guides are all around, ready & willing to help us.

In this 15 x 11" watercolor, Thunder Woman looks stunned, maybe overwhelmed by challenges whose solution eludes her. Bird Grandmother steadies her, brings her endurance to see a way.

A small plant & many birds connect her to life & happiness, even in this barren place.

Buffalo Dreamer & Thunder Woman

Thunder Woman first appeared while I was recovering from major surgery. Months passed before I recognized her as the spirit of Native uprising--the reemergence of Native values & paradigms in diverse circumstances.

Buffalo Dreamer leapt off the page while I was preparing for a featured artist show at Sebastopol Gallery. He seemed iconic in himself. But then he started showing up in the company of other characters from the series.

In this watercolor, 15 x 12", Buffalo Dreamer & Thunder Woman are crossing a river. Maybe he is helping her, maybe she is giving him courage. Some unknown is before them, some transition occurring.

A mature psychotherapist with a deep spiritual practice burst into tears when he saw this painting. Felt like a miracle to me....

Old Man of Mosquito Lake

You can see that this character has a very different relationship to Yellow Moose than our impetuous Coyote. Old Man of Mosquito Lake is--so far--the only character in this series based on a real person. When I was 9 I saw an Indian outside a campground in Maine. I've told the story of how our 10 minute encounter changed my life at Aqus in Petaluma & at Sebastopol Gallery.

Whoever this man was, he had power to awaken a little girl. In this series he is calm, grounded, shamanic, & playful. This painting, Old Man of Mosquito Lake & Yellow Moose, is watercolor, 10 x 8.75".

Who exactly Yellow Moose is, what she represents...I'm waiting for you to tell me.

Blue Coyote & Yellow Moose

This watercolor, 10 1/2 x 16", shows Blue Coyote biting off more than she can chew. I think we all know this feeling--starting off jaunty & full of energy, sure we can do it. At some point our Yellow Moose turns around. By the end of the day we're run ragged.

But tomorrow is a new game....

Blue Coyote Says

Below are the words playing hide & seek on this 24 x 24" canvas. They came to me from mystery as I worked on my first large painting after a big cancer surgery, like a get-well card sent from coyote. A great reminder of how to be healthy. I played with the letters, with deep, rough texture, with splatters & wild color. Some people hate this painting. Some people love it. When it was hanging at Sebastopol Gallery, some people took one look & laughed out loud. I love those moments, & the happiness this crazy painting continues to bring.

coyote is the trickster

blue is the loyalty

blue coyote is loyal

to our need for humor

to take ourselves lightly

offer lightness & paradox

to our overburdened sisters

& brothers over & over

invite play as the cure

both internal & external

in meeting difficult challenges

which can open as an oyster

of opportunity & good