Spirit Circle

I was recently commissioned to do a painting on glass, using an old window frame as the substrate.  The request was for something with a native American art feel to it.  I revisited a design that I had created several years ago, inspired by my studies of North American native arts.

Contained within the Circle of Life are Bear, Eagle, Salmon, Human, living in peaceful co-existence and interdepent on each other.  Spider has also passed by as we see the web she has spun, inside the top of the circle.  Represented are those creatures that walk on four legs, those that swim, those that fly, those that crawl, and those who walk upright. 

This is the painting within the window frame. 











We humans are very small within the context of Nature, and dependent on the natural world for our very survival; and yet we have caused such havoc.  This circle is intended as a symbol of healing--a symbol of Spirit; the spirit that inhabits all life on earth.  We are all interconnected.  We are all one.

Seen

 I recently took a little trip to Tofino on the west coast of Vancouver Island and, while there, visited the gallery of First Nations contemporary artist, Roy Henry Vickers.  The gallery itself is built along the idea of a traditional long house, with cedar walls and low lighting that beautifully showcase his colourful original prints.  His website is a treat to view, and I encourage you to click on the link to pay it a virtual visit.

In the gallery, this tall bird looks like he's hiding behind a corner, ready to jump out and scare the visitors with a loud squawk!  Or maybe he's just self-conscious about his unusual height and is trying to be inconspicuous.

An eagle's eye view.

Here's a "posterized" (with Photoshop Elements) version of a photo that I took while in the area. 

Ocean View, Ucluelet BC

I don't pretend for one second that it's anything like Vickers' work, but maybe it was inpired by it.  I do think it would work as a real print, if I was a printmaker and knew how.  In art school I usually made a mess with silk-screening so I think it's best I stick to Photoshopping at this point in my artist's life.