skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Temple Series III
11 x 17 pastel on paper
© 2003
private collection
I began a series of pastels based on the architecture of
the American Southwest. Because it was a Spanish territory
for centuries before it became part of the U.S., much of the
architecture here was influenced by Moorish styles including
the arched doorways and walled courtyards around the homes.
I have had a number of dreams in which I am in a walled city
in the desert in some ancient time, and also in the future; I call
the future cities "Celestial Cities" as they seem to rise out of a
barren place bringing in a new culture.
Fire at Blue Lake
15" x 21" pastel on paper
© 2003
I created this image one evening after working a shift at the Historic
Taos Inn. A crazy Russian woman had come in and began ranting
about how the medicine wheel at the Taos Pueblo was out of alignment
and that no one there would listen to her. She was very distraught
and I was concerned about her well-being. I thought I should do a
protective drawing for her and saw an image in my mind's eye of a
triple flame. It was right before Summer Solstice. I drew the center
blue flame and then the rest of the drawing evolved over the weekend.
I worked intuitively to complete the composition and finished it on
the Summer Solstice. Two weeks later, on the 4th of July, three strikes
of lightning struck the side of the mountain at Taos Pueblo and set
the hillside on fire. The fire raged for days.
Within hours the fire was burning within a mile of my home. As I
packed my belongings, I came across this pastel and was suddenly
taken by the symbols I had chosen to complete the piece - the red
flames around the central blue flame were like the three strikes of
lightning that spread across the mountainside. The trees and the
blue background were like the mountain and Blue Lake, a sacred
place for the Tewa people of Taos Pueblo and the source of water
for the pueblo. It is now contaminated with fire-retardent and will
take decades if not centuries to be pure enough to drink again.
As it turns out, the 4th of July was the day that one of the legendary
early Taoseños, Arthur Manby, was found beheaded in a room next
door to the Inn. His head was missing and never found. He was a
wild, gambling man who had invested his wealth in the town and
planted the trees that created the town's first park, but was also
reviled for his unscrupulous ways. I always wondered if it was the
ghost of Manby who had sought revenge for his own murder with
the fire that began on the anniversary of his death. It would make
sense, based on his reputation of character, that he would get even
one day.
The piece also reminds me of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the Patron Saint
of the Americas who first appeared as an apparition to a devoted man
in Mexico. Somewhat naive in its execution, it has the feeling of folk
art and colors of old Mexico. Perhaps there was a gift in the sacrifice by fire...
Gathering of the Tribes
30" x 37" pastels and acrylics on rag paper
© 1994 Olinda, Maui, Hawaii
private collection
There are twelve glyphs surrounding the firey spiral
emerging from the volcanic mountains. The pink
light is the Stellar Light that infuses the Light Workers
with their special mission.
Holy Flame
© 2001
5" x 8" Oil pastel on paper
Holy Flame
Toward My Self
Within
I Am Returned
This Sun
A Burning
Inside
Thy Holy Name
© Christmas 2003
Santa Cruz, CA
Ocean Dreaming © 2008
28 x 17, pastel on cotton rag paper
I had a dream that I was on the bow of a big wooden sailboat
with my brother and one of his friends. I look up in the sky
and the stars keep dancing about, arranging themselves into
new patterns and constellations. Although the dream takes
place at night, I painted it as bright sky blue.
The ocean and the sky are as one.
Venus goes retrograde the least of all other planets. Its cycle of
retrogrades form a pentagon in the astrological chart of the sky
as seen from Earth. It happens to go retrograde in the sign of
Aries since 1927, and as I have Venus in Aries, it seems to be
important to the expression of my creativity.
