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| painting by emily carr |
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| sketch by emily carr |
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| heart trees |
Being that its a while since I last wrote anything for this blog and I can't begin to write about everything I've done, I'll start with this. Heart Trees and totem poles are the same! Heart trees are the heavily spirited weir wood trees in the Game of Thrones. Totem poles are the heavily spirit-inhabited carved trees from our own world. My first memory of the image that would haunt me, until I discovered that the artist, Jack Gaughan, had taken some of his ideas from Emily Carr. When I first saw her pictures I was amazed. Her work is so full of archetypes that it goes straight into the deep corners of your brain. Yet, when you can compare her pictures to photographs of the same scene you realize that while she had this amazing eye for color and composition, her paintings were often intensely realistic at the same time.
At this time of the year my thoughts turn to totem poles and I stuff my brain with images, spend some time sketching and coloring them and, yes, try to bead them. Right now, I'm using purple and light blue, trying to get the effect I see in those painted animal heads. It is so hard. Realizing heart trees with their strange bloody faces, both symbols and old gods in their own right were simply another expression of totem poles has been a real mind-opener for me. I feel rejuvenated and ready to bead another
