Working Title: Navigators
I found a drawing buried in an old sketchbook while moving last year. I had no memory of this piece and was captivated. It demanded to be a painting. I had four canvases stretched so there will be four.
A new collector found a print on my website that reminded them of a friend who loved frogs and practiced Shamanism. Four Shaman is the name of the print which shows four frogs sitting with their backs to each other, pointing out in the four directions, across a pond. An unbelievable sight burned into my memory from when I worked on a farm.
The purchase of the Four Shaman print brought the work back to mind. I see the frogs as sentries. There is a slippery, underlying thread about protection in my work. Am I building a circle of protection? The frogs will reprise their roles at the horizon lines of the new work. The horizon: an amethyst mountain range topped by a violet flame.
If the frogs sit at the four directions, where should the Navigators stand? The names of the new paintings are the directions in between. The first one, Northeast is already spoken for and just about finished. There will be three more paintings in various sizes: Northwest, Southeast, Southwest.
Other works vibing protection are Four Shaman, Polly's Revenge, Berceuse, and now the Navigators. There might be more.
