"Ancestral Messengers" part 2: Process Painting

Sometimes nothing is better for painting than the nighttime, a glass of wine and a song you love. Years ago, when I was living in my studio in Seattle I would listen to the same album over and over and paint from about 10 PM til 3 or 4 in the morning and get up and start again the next day.  Now I'm lucky if I can work from 7 until 9 or 10. But I can really get into that groove of the perfect music. For 3 nights in a row Bobby Dylan and I have kept good company. You may wonder how many times one can listen to the buying power of the proletariat going down, but when it occurs in the same thought sequence as the evenin' haze settling over town and starlight by the edge of the creek, well it's hard to resist. It plays as mantra over and over and over. Truly when you are fiddling in the night with the spirit powers of  Datura and Snake at the same time, it is best to have some sort of protective vibe moving around you. I trust Bobby for those moments.

The painting has definitely progressed since the last post and has begun to take on the character that is intended for it. A couple of layers have been added to the sky using the same palette as before and adding richness to the colors. The rocks were finished off using their same palette, and now I'm working on Datura and Snake. Not much depth in layering has taken place there yet, but as usual, I am selecting placement, palette and balance as early concerns.

Both Datura and Snake have strong presences in the lore and native traditions of the southwest, and relate to one another within some of those traditions. As Datura is a powerful hallucinogen, the ceremony of its use often has distinctly prescribed traditional practice. In many desert tribes the ceremony is intended to contact an animal spirit guide for interceding with departed ancestors. When Snake, a powerful symbol of both transformation and a guiding force from the underworld, shows itself in the Datura vision as an ancestral intermediary, their combined power is enormous.

But, wait for it, more is yet to come when Raven appears. More about that next time. There is still so much work to do on this piece, but I am loving working on it. At this point it has a bit of a life of its own and I am just helping it along.